According to CNBC, Apple is nearing a deal to acquire “talent and technology” of computer vision startup Prompt AI. Here are the details.
The report says that Apple’s deal with Prompt seems all but confirmed, as the startup’s leadership held an all-hands meeting on Thursday to discuss the agreement and inform their next steps:
“Leadership at Prompt told employees of the pending transaction at an all-hands meeting on Thursday and said that those who don’t end up joining Apple will be paid a reduced salary, and encouraged to apply for open roles at the company (…).”
And
“Investors will get paid some money in the deal but ‘won’t be made whole,’ executives said in the meeting. Prompt employees were asked to refrain from mentioning Apple until further notice while searching for other jobs or updating friends and family on their situation.”
Prompt’s flagship product is Seemour, which applies AI to security cameras in order to “detect specific people, pets and other animals or objects around a household, and to send alerts and text-based descriptions of unusual activity or answer questions about what’s been happening in front of the camera,” per CNBC’s description.
Acquihires have become a common playbook in the AI field
While acquiring talent and technology, rather than full companies, is not a new strategy, it has become a common approach for major tech companies in the AI sector in recent years, partly to avoid FTC scrutiny.
Last year, Microsoft paid approximately $650 million to license technology from Inflection AI, while also bringing on most of its staff, including co-founder Mustafa Suleyman.
Google structured similar acquihire-style deals, first with Character.AI in 2024, and again this year with Windsurf.
Meta has also followed this playbook, investing in Scale AI and hiring its CEO, Alexandr Wang, alongside key members of his team. Amazon did a similar thing with Adept.
In Apple and Prompt’s case, CNBC reports that Seemour, the startup’s flagship app, will be discontinued, and that users will be informed that “their data will be deleted and privacy protected”.
The report also mentions that Prompt, which had been struggling to establish a sustainable business model, had recently been approached by xAI and Neuralink, both of which are controlled by Elon Musk.
It’s unclear how much Apple may pay for Prompt’s staff and technology, but if the acquisition goes through, details of the agreement will likely emerge.
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