Apple to acquire machine learning specialist Turi for 180 million euros

Apple may have acquired Turi, a Seattle company that specializes in artificial intelligence and machine learning. According to anonymous sources, this would involve an amount of around 180 million euros.

The news comes out through anonymous Geekwire sources. Requests for comments from both Turi and Apple were denied by the two companies, so the news has not been officially confirmed. The site’s sources state that the intention is that the company will remain based in Seattle, where Apple has been working on a branch for some time. Seattle and Cupertino, where Apple’s headquarters are located, are about 1,300 miles apart. It is not clear at the moment what exactly the plans are for the company. Apple is most likely using the company’s specialisms, among other things, to improve its personal assistant Siri.

The company was founded around 2012 by Carlos Guestrin, a University of Washington professor who specializes in computer science. According to Turi’s website, the company specializes in machine learning for commercial companies, governments, medical institutions, among others. Their technology helps gauge customer interests, when they’re closing their business, what they’re labeled, how they feel about a company, and more. Last month, Turi hosted another major data science conference that included speakers from the University of Washington, Google, UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Intel.

It is not Apple’s first acquisition in the field of artificial intelligence. For example, in 2015, the tech giant acquired Perceptio and VocallQ, which specialize in photo and speech recognition. Since 2015, Apple has acquired about 15 companies.