Apple Acquired Secret Israeli Facial Expression Reading Technology

The main value of the Israeli startup Q.AI is its unique facial expression analysis system. The company's patents indicate that its developments allow artificial intelligence to read micro-movements of facial skin and understand the user without a single word spoken aloud.

This paves the way for the creation of private digital assistants with whom one can communicate through headphones or smart glasses in complete silence, without attracting the attention of others. This format of interaction is called "silent speech."

This innovation is strategically important for Apple, which seeks to close the gap with competitors in the global artificial intelligence race. Today, Meta is actively promoting its Ray-Ban glasses with built-in artificial intelligence, while Google and Snap are preparing their own similar products. Moreover, the startup OpenAI recently acquired IO, a company founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, which is also working on a compact device for convenient interaction with ChatGPT.

For a long time, investors criticized Apple for its assistant Siri significantly lagging behind Google Gemini and ChatGPT systems. The acquisition of Q.AI should rectify this situation by offering users a fundamentally new experience, close to telepathy.

Little is known about the startup itself. The company was founded in Tel Aviv in 2022 by entrepreneur Aviad Maizels and has operated in complete secrecy until now. Maizels is a prominent figure in the industry: he previously headed PrimeSense, a firm that developed 3D sensors. Apple acquired PrimeSense back in 2013, and it was on the basis of those Israeli technologies that the famous Face ID scanner, which became standard for iPhones since 2017, was created.

Although the official cost of the deal is not disclosed, experts estimate it at a record 2 billion dollars. In Apple's history, only the acquisition of Beats Audio in 2014 for 3 billion was more significant. At that time, it helped the tech giant successfully enter the music streaming market and create Apple Music to compete with Spotify.

Experts predict that Apple will integrate Q.AI technologies into its future augmented reality glasses, as well as into new generations of AirPods headphones and the Vision Pro headset. Thanks to this, users will be able to communicate with Siri in complete privacy even in very crowded places, without uttering a word.

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