Apple Secures Huxe AI Talent and Tech in Reverse Acqui-hire
AI-generated image · US National Wire
The tech giant is bringing on former NotebookLM developers and licensing intellectual property from the shuttered personalized audio startup.
Apple has entered into an agreement to hire specific employees and license intellectual property from Huxe, a startup focused on personalized audio, as first reported by TechCrunch via a regulatory filing disclosed to the European Commission.
As reported by TechCrunch and MacRumors, the arrangement is a "reverse acqui-hire," a strategy used by major firms to integrate AI talent and technology without pursuing a full acquisition, which TechCrunch notes is presumably done to avoid heightened antitrust scrutiny.
The Huxe team consisted of developers who previously worked on AI-generated podcast features for Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM). On May 21, Huxe announced it was shutting down, deleting user data and removing its application from the Google and Apple stores. Apple notified the European Commission of the deal on June 9, though the filing does not specify which employees were offered positions, whether those offers were accepted, or Apple's specific roadmap for the technology.
While Apple has not disclosed its plans, TechCrunch suggests the move may be a response to Spotify, which unveiled its own AI-powered podcast generation tools just one day before Huxe announced its closure.