AI startup Perceptio acquired by Apple

Apple Inc. confirmed today that its company had acquired a startup technology company call Perceptio. The detail of the acquisition is not made public as told by Apple spokesman to Bloomberg.

Perceptio is a startup founded by Nicolas Pinto and Zak Stone which uses artificial intelligence systems to help users organizing their smartphone. The classification will be done without having the need for users to share much of their data.

The system developed will help users to use AI for image classification in their smartphone. The software works by processing the required initial dataset or image stock for it to works. The duo had also released an app for GIF mixing called smoothie. The app according to TechCrunch, is a photo sharing platform which is available exclusively for iOS. The app did not use the AI system that they are building as it is just a side project.

AppleInsider reported that the software will not tap into monolithic stores of data hence eliminating the need to draw from large repositories data. The use of AI also will enable Apple not to rely much on cloud computing and internet.

According to Apple, Perceptio system if what the company has been looking for as it aims to help users reduce dependency towards the internet. By using AI in the smartphone, not only users' data could be reduced but the processing speed can also be increased.

Both founders are artificial intelligence researchers from a prestigious university. Nicolas Pinto is a research scientist and computer science lecturer at MIT and Harvard while another founder, Zak Stone is a Ph.D. graduate from Harvard studying in computer vision. Both have been working on the image-recognition systems using deep learning according to Bloomberg.

This is not the first acquisition for Apple as the company previously acquire another software startup that create a smartphone's personal assistant that works similar like Apple's Siri. The UK-based personal assistant software, Vocal IQ able to perform longer conversation than Siri. It is said that Apple will further develop the software before introducing it to its flagship products.

Apple spokesman, Collin Johnson told Bloomberg that the company is always buying a company without disclosing the deal. It is part of Apple strategy to stay competitive in the technology industry. Besides Apple, Microsoft also has been on technology related acquisition spree. Microsoft is also currently developing its own virtual assistant tool known as Cortana and the software might be made available for iOS too.