Apple revealed in a filing with the European Commission that it has agreed to make employment offers to "certain employees of Huxe AI" and to "receive a non-exclusive license to Huxe's intellectual property rights." The deal was first reported by MacRumors.
Huxe was founded by developers who had previously worked on the AI-generated podcast features in Google's NotebookLM (recently renamed Gemini Notebook). The startup shut down on May 21, with the team posting on its website that it would remove its app from the Apple and Google stores, halt service and delete user data. "The team is moving on to new things, and we won't be continuing development of the product," the company said, thanking users for their support.
Apple notified the European Commission of the deal on June 9, shortly after Huxe's shutdown announcement. The filing does not disclose which employees received offers, whether they accepted them, or any details about Apple's plans.
Reverse acqui-hires have emerged as a way for large companies to hire key team members and license technology from startups without acquiring them outright, potentially avoiding antitrust scrutiny. The deal comes a day after Spotify unveiled AI-powered podcast generation features, suggesting Apple may be looking to add similar functionality to its Podcasts app.