Apple Acquires Key Talent & Patents Behind AI Avatar Company 'Animato'
According to an official EU filing spotted by Apple Insider, Apple has recently acquired key talent and IP behind Animato, a Bay Area startup creating AI avatars. Animato was known for the now-defunct AI video calling.
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According to an official EU filing spotted by Apple Insider , Apple has recently acquired key talent and IP behind Animato, a Bay Area startup creating AI avatars.
Animato was known for the now-defunct AI video calling app Call Annie , which paired 3D avatars with AI for face-to-face tutoring and language learning.
According to the filing (seen below), Apple isn’t outright acquiring Animato, but rather reserving the right to hire certain employees, get non-exclusive licenses to Animato’s intellectual property rights, and acquire Animato’s patent applications.
Here’s the January 19th filing via the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act:
Apple Inc. (“Apple”) will have the right to make employment offers to and hire certain employees of Animato, Inc. (“Animato”), receive a non-exclusive license to Animato’s intellectual property rights, and acquire Animato’s patent applications. Animato develops and distributes software that creates virtual avatars for video chats and tutoring. Apple (together with its group companies) designs, manufactures and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and sells a variety of related services.
According to LinkedIn, Animato was founded by Francesco Rossi , who worked at Apple from 2015-2022 in the company’s computer vision R&D department, which included work on machine learning.
Having left Apple in 2022 to found Animato, the company released two now-defunct apps, Call Annie and BeSanta, the latter of which let users create impersonate Santa Claus and record videos for playback.