Apple recently acquired California startup WaveOne, which develops video compression AI algorithms, TechCrunch reports.
Apple did not confirm the acquisition, but former WaveOne executive Bob Stankosh said that “the company was acquired by Apple” earlier this year. In addition, the report notes that WaveOne’s website went offline around January and that several of the company’s employees now work on various machine learning teams at Apple.
WaveOne’s technology uses artificial intelligence to detect scenes and objects in video frames, enabling “content-aware” video compression and decompression algorithms that reduce the size of video files. For example, it can prioritize preserving faces at the expense of other elements in the scene to save bandwidth.
It’s unclear how much Apple paid for WaveOne or when the startup’s technology might be integrated into Apple’s software platform.
