Much of the information that reaches the public about Apple Inc.’s startup acquisitions comes from leaks rather than the company itself, which usually stays mum about such deals. A new leak late Tuesday indicates that the iPhone maker quietly bought an artificial intelligence developer called Silk Labs Inc. earlier this year.

The source who tipped off The Information about the transaction didn’t share a specific date. But the publication noted in its Tuesday afternoon report that the deal was likely small by Apple’s standards. According to PitchBook data, Silk Labs raised $4 million in funding and had about a dozen employees.

Silk Labs was founded in 2015 by former Mozilla Foundation Chief Technology Officer Andreas Gal with two colleagues from the browser maker. The startup entered the spotlight the following year when it launched a Kickstarter campaign for Sense (pictured), a stylish smart home hub. The system was intended to let users centrally manage the connected devices in their homes.

The campaign exceeded the startup’s funding target by about 65 percent. However, Silk Labs eventually pulled the plug after receiving what it described as strong commercial interest from other hardware makers about the AI system that powered Sense.

The startup said the software can tailor the connected devices in a home to each resident’s habits. Silk Labs promised that Sense could, among other things, adjust the thermostat based on a person’s temperature preferences and determine which lights to switch off when they go outside. The smart home hub would have also featured an AI-powered security camera.

It’s easy to see why the technology caught Apple’s interest. Silk Labs’ AI system could potentially help the iPhone maker enhance the capabilities of Siri, which powers its smart speaker products. The company has so far lagged behind Amazon.com Inc. and Google LLC in this market.

Silk Labs’ AI system could also potentially give Apple an edge in the privacy department, a key talking point for CEO Tim Cook versus the likes of Google and Amazon.  The software is designed to process data directly on users’ rather than offloading work to the cloud like Alexa and Google Assistant do. As a part of Siri, this feature could be a valuable differentiator amid the heightened concern over tech giants’ use of user information.  

The reported acquisition of Silk Labs underscores Apple’s aggressive investment in AI. In April, the company poached former Google machine learning head John Giannandrea to lead its development efforts in this area.

Photo: Silk Labs