Earlier this month Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple Acquires a Company that Forbes described as one the most Promising Artificial Intelligence companies in America." XNOR.ai was apparently working on the Pentagon's Project Maven which is an artificial intelligence (AI) project that studies imagery that could eventually be used to improve drone strikes in the battlefield.

Amid great pressure from Google employees back in June 2018, Google dropped their involvement with Project Maven. Google's decision to drop out put  other tech giants like IBM, Amazon and Microsoft – back in the running.

Apple doesn't usually participate in these types of huge government projects/contracts and it's being reported on today by 'The Information' that Apple has officially stopped the work that their newly acquired company was participating in regarding Project Maven.

The Information reports that "The startup, a maker of artificial intelligence software called XNOR.ai had been involved in Project Maven, an effort by the U.S. Department of Defense to use AI software to analyze imagery captured by military drones. Apple acquired XNOR.ai recently and decided to terminate the work, a person familiar with the matter said." For more on this, read the full report by The Information.  

Apple acquired  XNOR.ai for technology that could end up in future iPhones. Dropping work on Project Maven isn't a political statement, but rather a practical one.