Tech giant Apple (APPL) has reportedly acquired a startup called Silk Labs that works on Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based personal assistant technology for smartphones and smart home devices.

According to The Information, the purchase took place earlier this year. Silk Labs is a machine learning company using on-device AI to empower businesses to build the next generation of intelligent connected devices.  It is expected to be a natural fit for Apple’s privacy-centric approach to AI. After an unsuccessful foray into the smart home, Silk Labs developed on-device machine learning services.

Silk positioned itself as a solution with the focus on Privacy. According to the company,

“Privacy and security is built into our company’s DNA. With every line of code we write and in every design decision we make, Silk takes great measures to ensure that user data on the Silk Intelligence Platform is fully protected at all times.”

According to TheVerge, Apple has taken a similar approach in its development of AI, differentiating itself from rivals like Google, which collects substantial amounts of user data and processes it in the cloud. ”When it comes to performing analysis of your data,” Apple exec Craig Federighi said in 2016. “We’re doing it on your devices, keeping your personal data under your control.”