Apple buys Israeli startup Q.ai as the AI race heats up
Summary
TechCrunch reports Apple’s acquisition of Israeli AI startup Q.ai for about $2 billion as the AI race intensifies and hardware products become AI-enabled. Q.ai focuses on imaging and machine learning to interpret whispered speech and improve audio in noisy environments, aligning with Apple’s ongoing AI enhancements in AirPods and potential Vision Pro capabilities. The deal underscores continued consolidation in on-device AI and perceptual ML among leading tech companies.