
Apple reportedly buys AI startup with privacy-conscious approach - evo_9
https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/21/18106192/apple-privacy-ai-silk-labs-acquisition
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gravity_123
Privacy is a double edged sword and apple has taken the other side of it
compared to most other companies. Doing good ai while being privacy conscious
is not easy, huge props to them and hope they succeed.

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satysin
> Doing good ai while being privacy conscious is not easy

Is this fact or do we just think this because the only companies who have put
resources into AI are companies that doesn't give a shit about your privacy
(because they use it for their other products)?

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soared
This seems fairly obvious - good ai can do things like predict what you want,
understand your speech, understand your intent, etc. All this requires tons of
personal data. And any amount of personal data can be difficult to keep
secure/used ethically/etc.

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satysin
Keep secure sure (although the same is true of all personal data not just that
related to AI) but ethical use is _not_ a computer science problem.

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deminature
Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but anonymization while still having the data be
useful for deep learning seems computer science-related.

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prepend
I think Edge AI where nothing is passed to the cloud is going to be a big
area.

Currently Apple is the only one of the fangm whose business model allows this.
Probably the only huge growth area for apple-style margins (ie, $17/month for
a local ai to train with you as its learning set with complete, auditable
privacy).

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bhauer
Arguably, Microsoft could do this as well without cannibalizing too much
business. It's truly a shame they aren't doing it.

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giancarlostoro
I wish they'd stop trying to use Microsoft Windows as an ad platform for all
their other products and focus instead on making their existing OS better. If
you want to advertise all your Microsoft products, here's a crazy and wild
idea, do it on the App store for Windows. Stop making duplicated services too,
we got Microsoft Teams which I don't mind, it seems really good, but what
about Skype and MSN?

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segmondy
It will be interesting to see how their technology is used.

Here are some examples [https://www.silklabs.com/](https://www.silklabs.com/)

Instantly search cameras at a shopping mall to find your missing child

Recognize who’s coming home without training on specific faces

Know where people are spending their time in a retail store

Save power and storage by only recording when a person is seen

Count the vehicles that have entered a parking lot

Know when people are yelling to be alerted of commotion

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sudovancity
This seems pretty cool, I do like that on the surface at least, Apple seems to
care a little about privacy.

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mxstbr
Out of FANG, it seems like Apple is only one that really cares! See
[https://www.fastcompany.com/90236195/forget-the-new-
iphones-...](https://www.fastcompany.com/90236195/forget-the-new-iphones-
apples-best-product-is-now-privacy)

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mcintyre1994
Not that I'm convinced they fit in FAANG, but do Netflix have a particularly
bad privacy record? I know they do lots of tracking and magic to make
recommendations but I'm not sure they even have any concerning data to play
fast and loose with privacy wise?

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jammygit
Its getting slowly more popular to personality profile people based on their
behaviour. It might be tempting for Netflix to sell their viewing data for
such a purpose one day if somebody decides they want to buy it for that.

