Apple Acquires Israeli AI Startup Q.ai for Nearly $2 Billion

California: Apple confirmed Thursday it has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli artificial intelligence startup specializing in silent speech technology, for close to two billion dollars in its second-largest acquisition ever.

The deal brings Q.ai’s pioneering audio AI capabilities and its one-hundred-person team to Apple, including CEO Aviad Maizels and co-founders Yonatan Wexler and Avi Barliya. Founded in 2022 in Tel Aviv, Q.ai developed machine learning technology that interprets facial muscle movements to understand whispered or silent speech, potentially enabling users to communicate with Siri without audible words.

Patent filings show Q.ai’s systems analyze facial skin micromovements to detect mouthed or spoken words, identify speakers, and assess emotional states and vital signs. The technology could enhance Apple’s AirPods and Vision Pro headsets by enabling silent voice commands in noisy environments or situations requiring discretion.

This marks the second time Maizels has sold a company to Apple. In 2013, Apple acquired his previous startup PrimeSense for three-hundred-fifty million dollars. That acquisition provided the three-dimensional sensing technology that enabled Face ID on iPhones.

The transaction trails only Apple’s three-billion-dollar purchase of Beats Electronics in 2014. Q.ai was backed by Kleiner Perkins, Gradient Ventures, Spark Capital, and Exor. The startup raised twenty-four-point-five million dollars in seed funding in January 2023.

The acquisition comes hours before Apple’s quarterly earnings report, with analysts forecasting one-hundred-thirty-eight billion dollars in revenue and the strongest iPhone sales growth in four years. The deal underscores Apple’s strategy of securing AI leadership through targeted acquisitions as competition intensifies with Meta and Google in wearable AI assistants.