Apple buys Israeli start-up Q.AI for close to $2bn

Apple has acquired Israeli startup Q.AI for close to $2 billion, marking one of its largest deals ever and its second-biggest acquisition after the $3 billion purchase of Beats in 2014.

The four-year-old Tel Aviv-based company, founded in 2022 by Aviad Maizels, Yonatan Wexler, and Avi Barliya, specializes in technology that analyzes facial expressions through "facial skin micro movements" to interpret "silent speech."

Patents show potential applications in headphones or glasses, enabling private, non-verbal interactions with AI assistants. The acquisition aims to strengthen Apple's position in the competition to develop AI-powered wearable devices, where it trails competitors like Meta, Google, and OpenAI. Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses allow voice interaction with AI, while Google and Snap plan smart glasses launches this year.

Apple could utilize Q.AI’s technology, instead of depending exclusively on sound waves captured by microphones, Q.AI has created an optical sensor technology that tracks tiny movements in facial muscles, skin, and the jaw. This enables the system to interpret speech even when a person only mouths words silently or whispers with minimal audible output, allowing the technology to extract and clarify a user's voice in very loud surroundings, where conventional microphones typically fail to isolate speech effectively.

Apple's Johny Srouji, senior vice-president of hardware technologies, described Q.AI as

“a remarkable company that is pioneering new and creative ways to use imaging and machine learning.”

The secretive startup, backed by investors including GV (formerly Google Ventures), Kleiner Perkins, Spark Capital, and Exor, has operated discreetly since launch. Some team members previously worked at PrimeSense, which Apple bought in 2013 for Face ID technology.