Apple Hires Huxe AI Team, Licenses IP in June 9 Reverse Acqui-Hire
Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Oct 10
Apple Hires Huxe AI Team, Licenses IP in June 9 Reverse Acqui-Hire
3 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Oct 10
Summary
A June 9 filing to the European Commission shows Apple agreed to offer jobs to certain Huxe AI employees and take a non-exclusive license to the startup’s intellectual property.
The structure is a reverse acqui-hire, letting Apple add AI talent and technology without buying Huxe outright — a route that can draw less antitrust scrutiny than a full acquisition.
Huxe had already said on May 21 that it was shutting down, removing its app from Apple and Google stores, ending service and deleting user data.
The startup was founded by developers who previously worked on NotebookLM’s AI-generated podcast features, suggesting Apple may be targeting similar capabilities for its Podcasts app.
That possibility gained weight because Huxe’s shutdown came a day after Spotify unveiled AI-powered podcast generation tools, underscoring the race around personalized audio.