A couple of months after Apple CEO Tim Cook railed against attacks on data privacy, Apple purchased a small 12-person start-up called Silk Labs that promises to develop AI software that could fit into low-powered consumer hardware like cameras. AI capabilities brought down to this level of processor power could beef up the security of connected hardware.
Financial details of the deal were not revealed. Silk Labs had only raised some $4 million in funding at the time of purchase.
More info on Silk Labs can be read in this article from innovationenterprise.com:
Silk Labs started back in 2015, founded by three former Mozilla employees Andreas Gal, Chris Jones and Michael Vine. According to its site, its aim is to “bring next-generation visual and audio intelligence to connected products” with “state-of-the-art image and audio recognition”.
It is the latest in a number of AI-related strategic moves Apple has made this year as it attempts to become a leader in the technology, including purchasing AI and machine learning company Lattice Data and hiring Google’s search and AI chief John Giannandrea.
Both Silk Labs and Apple have expressed a desire to use AI for the protection of personal data and security. This is an issue particularly close to Apple CEO Tim Cook’s heart as he launched a scathing attack on tech firms that hoard data last month. “Our own information, from the everyday to the deeply personal, is being weaponized against us with military efficiency,” Cook stated in an impassioned speech at the 40th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in Brussels in October.
