Apple added to its rapidly growing artificial intelligence portfolio earlier this year by acquiring Spain-based AI video startup Vilynx for approximately $50 million. Vilynx, headquartered in Barcelona, built software that leverages computer vision to analyze a video’s visual, text, and audio content with the goal of “understanding” what’s in the video, which helps it categorize and tag metadata, generate automated video previews, and recommend related content. Apple said that it “buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” but the company could potentially use Vilynx’s technology to help improve a variety of apps.
Siri, search, Photos, and other apps that rely on Apple being able to accurately organize and surface information are possible candidates, as are Apple TV, Music, News, and other apps that use recommendation engines to present users with related content.
CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly talked up the potential of augmented reality as well, which could also make use of AI-based tools like Vilynx. he purchase will also deepen Apple’s AI expertise, with around 50 engineers and data scientists joining from Vilynx, and the startup’s Barcelona office set to become one of Apple’s key AI research hub in Europe.
