News: 0180688672

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Apple's Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever Is a Startup That Interprets Silent Speech (ft.com)

(Thursday January 29, 2026 @05:40PM (msmash) from the read-my-lips dept.)


Apple has [1]acquired Q.AI , a secretive Israeli startup whose technology can analyze facial skin micro-movements to interpret "silent speech," in a deal valued at close to $2 billion that marks the iPhone maker's second-largest acquisition ever, according to backer GV (formerly Google Ventures).

The four-year-old company was founded in Tel Aviv in 2022 by Aviad Maizels, Yonatan Wexler and Avi Barliya. Patents filed by Q.AI show its technology being deployed in headphones or smart glasses to enable non-verbal communication with an AI assistant. The acquisition comes as Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses already let wearers talk to its AI, and Google and Snap are preparing to launch competing devices later this year.



[1] https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/65b1cb81-918e-4b62-867f-e3b5f81bfded



Do you read me? (Score:5, Funny)

by TwistedGreen ( 80055 )

Ah, so this is how HAL 9000 can read lips. Very prescient.

And I'm in talks to sell my startup, too. (Score:2)

by ebunga ( 95613 )

Using AI, we can analyze imperceptible deviations in skull shape that will predict a person's behavior and mental acuity. We've already signed on a dozen Fortune 500 companies and countless law enforcement departments servicing high-crime areas.

jane (Score:2)

by DarkOx ( 621550 )

I can't wait to meet Jane and let her handle my finances for a few thousand years

Can they tell what I'm saying now? (Score:1)

by lilgerry ( 137310 )

...

Re: Can they tell what I'm saying now? (Score:3)

by liqu1d ( 4349325 )

You disgust me!

Re: bahahah fucking retards (Score:2)

by liqu1d ( 4349325 )

It does sound like bullshit doesn't it. The article also sounds iffy. I can't imagine apple would drop that kind of money without it being real though. Wonder if it works as a lie detector too...

Re: bahahah fucking retards (Score:2)

by liqu1d ( 4349325 )

Pretty much my default is bad logic. You'd hope a 2billion acquisition would undergo a ton of scrutiny first.

Re: (Score:2)

by geekmux ( 1040042 )

> It does sound like bullshit doesn't it. The article also sounds iffy. I can't imagine apple would drop that kind of money without it being real though. Wonder if it works as a lie detector too...

Perhaps we should consider what's under the hood here. I can imagine Apple dropping that kind of money on technology that's iffy if the patents secured behind it are not.

Lock, stock, and barrel, implies you're buying far more than the superficial.

What about Siri? (Score:2)

by TangoCharlie ( 113383 )

Why can’t they just make Siri work properly?

In the beginning, I was made. I didn't ask to be made. No one consulted
with me or considered my feelings in this matter. But if it brought some
passing fancy to some lowly humans as they haphazardly pranced their way
through life's mournful jungle, then so be it.
- Marvin the Paranoid Android, From Douglas Adams' Hitchiker's Guide to the
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