Apple just bought a Canadian AI startup as it plans for iOS 18 and beyond

Apple continues to be widely rumored to have plans to make a big push into the world of AI with its upcoming software updates including the iOS 18 release for the iPhone, macOS 15 for the Mac, and others. Now, a new report suggests that Apple has taken a step further in its quest to do just that by buying a new company in the form of Canadian AI startup DarwinAI.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple actually bought the company earlier this year and that dozens of DarwinAI employees have already joined Apple's artificial intelligence division. Gurman doesn't cite his sources by name because the deal has not been officially announced.

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DarwinAI has previously developed AI technology for visually inspecting components during the manufacturing process and already works with other companies in a variety of industries, Gurman says. However, a core technology offered by the company is its ability to make artificial intelligence smaller and faster. That's a good fit for Apple for obvious reasons with the company preferring to offer its AI functionality as an on-device function rather than relying on sending data to its servers in the cloud. Such an approach is not only faster for the user, but also offers improved privacy as well.

Gurman believes that the DarwinAI is another example of Apple's focus on bringing improved AI features to its various platforms including iOS 18. Generative AI is thought to be a focus, with Apple CEO Tim Cook having previously commented that Apple will "break new ground" in terms of AI this year. It's expected that Apple will show off its plans at the upcoming WWDC event in June, an event that will see the company preview the iOS 18, macOS 15, and other software updates before making them available to the public this fall.

It still isn't clear what Apple intends to offer in terms of AI functionality, but improvements to the Siri digital assistant seem like a good place to start. Siri has fallen further behind alternatives from other companies like OpenAI and Microsoft, not to mention Google and Amazon. An AI push could see Apple plow generative AI resources into a big Siri upgrade, but it remains to be seen what route the company will take.

If Apple is indeed going to rework Siri it could be a big selling point for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro releases that are expected to arrive in September, around the same time that iOS 18 will be released.