Apple acquires machine learning and AI startup Turi

Cupertino giant Apple has acquired Machine learning and artificial intelligence startup Turi, reflecting company’s growing interest in artificial intelligence and machine learning, according to GeekWire. The move also promises to further increase Apple’s presence in the Seattle region, where it has been building an engineering outpost for the past two years.

Apple, as usual, has played down the acquisition and gave its trademark statement it particularly reserves for similar reports,“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”

Turi, formerly known as Dato and Graphlab, was founded by a University of Washington professor named Carlos Guestrin. The company originated from an open-source project under Carlos at Carnegie Mellon in 2009.

Turi allows developers to build apps with machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities that can automatically scale up on their own. It also helps small and large organizations to make better sense of data through its products like Turi Machine Learning Platform, GraphLab Create, Turi Distributed, and Turi Predictive Services.

Since Apple has not disclosed any details about the deal, it remains unclear how it plans to use Turi. While it's possible that Apple could make these available to third parties in the future, it may simply want the tools and the team behind Turi for itself.

Apple has made around 15 acquisitions since early 2015, including Perceptio and VocalIQ, two artificial intelligence/machine learning startups similar to Turi. Other Apple acquisitions in 2016 include Emotient, a facial recognition startup; LearnSprout, an education startup; Flyby Media, a spatial perception startup; and LegbaCore, a firmware security startup.