Apple just 'swallowed' a French company to support AI

According to Challenges (France) source, in December 2023, Apple quietly acquired another AI company related to reducing the size of LLM (Large Language Modules - roughly translated: Large language modules) for Iphone. The name of this company is Datakaleb, headquartered in Paris (France).

At the beginning of this year, "Apple House" also secretly acquired AI company DarwinAI (headquartered in Canada).

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Like DarwinAI, Datakaleb is currently focusing on compression algorithms. The smaller the process algorithm, the less energy it uses. "Apple Defect" has repeatedly researched LLM that is small enough to run completely on the device.

Datakaleb is headquartered in Parc Monceau, about two miles from the Apple Opera store in Paris. This company has also deployed AI in facial recognition. This technology was applied in 2021. At that time, the city of Cannes used AI to monitor the entire concert hall to confirm all attendees were wearing masks.

Facial recognition regulations have not yet been established in France. According to sources, Datakaleb has turned to researching compression of AI algorithms. The company has dozens of experts, including alumni of the Sorbonne, Centrale and Polytechnique Universities.

Datakaleb has an annual turnover of up to 1 million Euros. Therefore, experts estimate that Apple will have to spend at least several million Euros to buy back this company. According to Challenges, one founder of Datakaleb left the company in 2020, with the remaining original founding employees also expected to leave in the near future.

Currently, Apple is continuing to acquire companies to support AI technology about to be deployed on the iPhone.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 24 April 2024