Apple reportedly acquires artificial intelligence startup Turi for $200 million

Apple has acquired Seattle, Wash.-based machine learning and artificial intelligence startup Turi for around $200 million, as it looks to battle Google, Amazon, and Facebook in the AI space, Geekwire first reported.

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Apple didn't explicitly confirm the deal. However, it provided its boilerplate statement when it makes acquisitions.

"Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans," said Apple in a statement.

Turi helps developers create AI solutions. It's not clear if Turi's several developer tools will be made available to Apple's large community of developers or if Turi's talent and intellectual property is the target of the acquisition.

The Turi team will continue working out of Seattle.

The iPhone giant's shift into artificial intelligence as well as augmented reality was discussed by Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, during the company's earnings call in July.

"We have been and continue to invest a lot in this," Cook said. "We are high on AR for the long run."

This isn't Apple's first AI-related acquisition, having bought machine learning startup Perceptio and natural language processing firm VocalIQ earlier this year.