Apple Acquires Video AI Startup Vilnyx for $50 Million USD

Apple has acquired startup Vilynx, which works in advanced artificial intelligence that could boost the iPhone’s AI across various devices, for $50 million USD.

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, reads a new report from Bloomberg.

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.

Vilynx could be applied to Apple’s digital assistant Siri and the associated search function, along with possible use on the photo app to make videos more searchable, like how users can search for items inside photos. In addition, Bloomberg writes that the tech giant could use Vilynx to recommend things like TV and news for more relevant content for users.

The purchase will 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.