WHAT IS APPLE DOING ABOUT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

What is Apple going to do about AI? Based on TEQMINE’s AI Technology Scan, we provide here a snapshop of its AI patent and invention effort.

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• APPLE ranks currently between 10th and 15th largest AI patentee (2018 – prediction).
• APPLE’s AI patent effort is increasing currently, but it did dip significantly 2014-2017
• It is not yet clear how sustainable it’s renewed interest in AI patenting and innovation is, and the next years will show.
• AI is central for APPLE innovation strategy, and AI is likely to be critical support for its business lines across the board.
• Investing in new technologies and protecting them actively, but not heavily when compared to competitors.
• Monitoring APPLE AI efforts is important, as it’s effort is evolving quickly.
• APPLE has in total about 450 AI patents or applications in USPTO/EPO/PCT.
• APPLE AI patenting is today about the same volume as in 2012, whereas other patenting is only half of 2012 level. (Figure 2012=100).
• APPLE has very specific AI strategy: It is almost exclusively focussing on UX and sophisticated user applications.
• Limited scope of AI focus, inventing in UX, Human-Computer interaction, Cameras and Image Processing, Natural language processing and Speech & Sound recognition.
• Very little hard-core Data science patent or innovation effort.
• APPLE innovation ecosystem is almost exclusive based in the Silicon Valley.
• Note about data, sources and graphs: All data from TEQMINE’s AI Technology Scan (May 2018). Patent data from USPTO/EPO/PCT