Apple is continuing to enrich its artificial intelligence capabilities, this time with the acquisition of French startup Datakalab. The company was founded in 2016 by two brothers – Xavier Fischer and Lucas Fischer. This startup was a specialist in artificial intelligence-powered algorithm compression and image analysis.
The agreement was reportedly signed in late 2023, according to the European Commission. However, none of the companies have revealed the amount. Neither Apple nor Datakalab even officially informed about the acquisition. The news is coming out now thanks to the French business magazine Challenges.
Apple’s commitment to play safe with AI has resulted in the acquisition of Datakalab
A portion of Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter notes that Apple lacks generative AI capabilities as compared to some of its competitors like OpenAI or Alphabet’s Google. Several rumors also hint that Apple is internally focusing on catching up with its competitors in the AI race. In the world of high-end Android and Windows devices, AI has transitioned from being a cool addition to becoming a buzzword at this point.
However, it seems that Apple wants to play it safe. There’s a good chance you’ve already heard about at least one issue of the AI models, hallucination. It is basically when an AI model generates an inaccurate or misleading response. It happens due to a model being trained on insufficient or inaccurate data. This problem can increase even more when a model has been trained over AI-generated content, which is filling up the internet.
But how all of this is related to Apple’s acquisition of Datakalab? Well, Apple is working on its self-developed large language model “Ajax” that will run on-device. Nonetheless, there are some disadvantages as well, alongside some advantages of Apple’s approach.
The acquisition should help in developing their on-device LLM
The advantages include the ability to preserve user privacy. But there’s only so much that Apple can do with a first-generation on-device AI model. This is exactly where comes Apple’s acquisition of Datakalab. The Paris-based startup has been specializing in low-power deep learning algorithms, efficient in terms of execution, respectful of privacy, and operating entirely on-device.
Many of the members at Datakalab have also reportedly joined Apple. With this acquisition, Apple is expected to benefit from improving its on-device AI model.