Apple Snatches AI Talent from Musk, Plans to Give HomePod a “Smart Eye”
Apple Joins the AI Talent War
Apple, often seen as trailing in the AI race, has made a bold move — stepping directly into the highly competitive “AI talent war” and even overlapping with Elon Musk’s AI ventures.
According to CNBC, Apple is acquiring engineers and technology from visual AI startup Prompt AI, with negotiations reportedly in the late stages. Prompt AI had previously interacted with Musk-related companies xAI and Neuralink.
▲ Apple CEO Tim Cook
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Prompt AI — Background and Acquisition Details
Internal Announcement
A leaked company-wide recording reveals Prompt AI leadership informed employees that:
- The company is being acquired by Apple.
- Staff not joining Apple may face pay cuts.
- Management encouraged affected employees to apply for Apple job openings.
Startup Landscape
Small AI startups like Prompt AI are attractive acquisition targets for big tech because they:
- Rapidly boost AI capabilities.
- Avoid antitrust scrutiny due to their size.
- Provide specialized talent and mature niche products.
Prompt AI, with only 11 employees, also considered offers from xAI and Neuralink.
Investors were told they’d receive partial returns post-deal — not full reimbursement.
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Company Profile
- Founded: 2023, San Francisco
- Seed Funding: $5 million
- Founders:
- Tete Xiao — Ph.D., Peking University & UC Berkeley
- Trevor Darrell — Founder, Berkeley AI Research Lab
- Notable: Several team members appear to be of Chinese heritage.
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Seemour — Flagship Product Overview
Key Features
Seemour is described as “Ambient AI with home space understanding.”
It’s a smart home security camera AI system capable of:
- Identifying family members, pets, and objects.
- Generating text alerts for actions.
- Flagging suspicious individuals or animals.
- Office use: tracking employee check-in/out.
Core Technology
- Recognition Engine: Processes tens of millions of pixels in <1 second.
- Multi-cue identification: People, animals, and unusual activity under diverse conditions.
- Adaptive learning: Recognition accuracy improves over time.
Multimodal Large Language Model powers contextual video understanding:
- Filters huge amounts of camera footage.
- Highlights only suspicious scenes or relevant individuals.
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Apple’s Smart Home Strategy & Seemour Integration
Apple’s acquisition strengthens its smart home portfolio.
Bloomberg reports Apple is developing a “smart security camera” similar to Seemour — capable of precise family member recognition.
Before Apple, Seemour integrated with Amazon Ring products.
HomeKit Ecosystem Advantages
Unlike Seemour’s standalone solution, HomeKit supports robust automation:
- Camera detects arrival → lights turn on, music starts, personalized content shown.
- Child turns on TV → child-appropriate programming loaded.
- Empty home with lights on → lights switched off automatically.
▲ Rumored Apple HomePod with display
Video recognition + Apple’s Visual Intelligence could greatly expand video-based AI capabilities.
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AI & Creator Opportunities
Advanced AI products like Seemour can empower developers and creators.
Tools such as AiToEarn官网 offer:
- Open-source global AI solutions for creation, publishing, and monetization.
- Cross-platform publishing: Douyin, Kwai, WeChat, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and more.
Prompt AI’s challenge:
- Provides AI camera solutions without license fees → weak monetization.
- Joining Apple’s ecosystem may ensure sustainability.
Note: Seymour app has been removed from the App Store.
Prompt AI confirmed user data deletion for privacy and security.
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Apple’s “Small but Refined” AI Acquisition Strategy
Apple favors small, targeted AI acquisitions over giant deals worth tens of billions:
- Example: Dataklaba — AI facial recognition & emotion detection, likely for future HomePod and camera products.
Reasons:
- Faster integration.
- Reduced cultural alignment issues.
- Focused acquisition of mature technology aligned with product vision.
Historical precedent:
- iPhone X’s Face ID → Enabled by acquiring PrimeSense for 3D structured light sensing.
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Perplexity Acquisition Speculation
Bloomberg reports Apple is developing “Answer Engine” — a web-crawling chatbot to:
- Provide common knowledge Q&A.
- Integrate into Siri, Spotlight, Safari search.
This aligns closely with Perplexity’s core strengths.
Apple’s Services chief Eddy Cue praised Perplexity in Google’s antitrust trial testimony.
Current Status
- Apple discussed the possibility internally.
- Met Perplexity’s leadership → No formal negotiations yet.
- Perplexity: valued at $14B, ~250 employees → smaller acquisition risk.
- Would surpass Beats as Apple’s largest acquisition if finalized.
▲ Searching Prompt AI via Perplexity
CEO Tim Cook recently signaled increased AI spending and openness to larger acquisitions.
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Implications for Developers & Creators
Platforms like AiToEarn integrate:
- AI content generation.
- Cross-platform publishing.
- Analytics and AI model ranking (AI模型排名).
Publishing across Douyin, Kwai, WeChat, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, YouTube, Pinterest, X (Twitter) becomes seamless.
Creators can monetize AI-driven content efficiently.
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Bottom Line:
Apple’s acquisition of Prompt AI signals a more aggressive AI strategy — targeting small, high-impact startups to quickly enhance product capabilities. As AI becomes integral to smart home and consumer tech, opportunities for independent creators and niche AI developers will grow — especially when paired with global monetization tools.
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Do you want me to also create a timeline graphic showing Apple’s AI-related acquisitions over the last 5 years? It would make this article even easier to follow.
