Apple Signs Hiring and Licensing Deal With AI Podcast Startup Huxe

Friday October 9, 2026 1:44 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Apple has reached an agreement to recruit employees from Huxe and license the AI audio startup's technology, according to a new European Commission filing.

apple huxe podcast ai licensing deal
The filing says Apple will have the right to make employment offers to certain Huxe employees and receive a non-exclusive license to the company's intellectual property, so this isn't an outright acquisition of the company.

Huxe was founded by former Google NotebookLM team members Raiza Martin, Jason Spielman, and Stephen Hughes. NotebookLM – since renamed Gemini Notebook – is Google's AI research tool, which is best known for its ability to turn documents and other source material into podcast-style audio discussions.

Huxe brought a similar approach to personalized listening, given that its app generated audio briefings based on users' emails, calendars, and interests, as well as podcasts about topics they wanted to explore. Listeners could interrupt the AI hosts to ask questions or request a different explanation.

The startup announced in May that it was winding down, and said its team was moving on and that development would stop. Its audio service ended on May 28. Apple notified the Commission of the arrangement on June 9.

The filing does not say which employees Apple could recruit, nor does it confirm whether anyone has actually been hired.

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Top Rated Comments

Ctrlos

2 weeks ago

But I want to hear people talking about their experiences. AI podcasts seem like the absolute devil.

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

wanha

2 weeks ago

does any human being actually enjoy listening to two AI characters talk with each other? they make my skin crawl every time, I refuse to listen to them or watch any videos narrated by AI

Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

chrono1081

2 weeks ago

But I want to hear people talking about their experiences. AI podcasts seem like the absolute devil.

Yep. I already ignore the AI slop YouTube channels. AI writing is so bad too, it often repeats itself in multiple ways each time before moving on with the story. (I don't know how to describe that better but people who have heard it know what I mean.)

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

michaeljk

2 weeks ago

I don't think I've ever come across something like this: an AI generated conversation. I do find myself having to step away from YouTube "videos" that are not videos at all. They are AI created, narrated montages of photos that are probably also collated by AI for the topic. So, someone wants to put out a car review and not do any work. They tell their AI model, create a 15 minute review of new Toyota RAV 4, including narration of its specs, price, where its made, its models, features and include photos that roughly correlate to these topics about the car. Bam! You have a mostly worthless but viable "video" to put up on YouTube. What I find most striking is how many comments you'll see that thank "the reviewer" for the great information. Such a strange world we are creating now.

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

turbineseaplane

2 weeks ago

I will not be listening to AI podcasts.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

eifelbube

1 week ago

How would you even "know" it's an AI podcast?
All AI content should be marked as that so we can make a choice if what to do with that content.

I wouldn’t mind regulation to force disclosure and protect consumers from podcast slop. As controversial as EU regs may be, at least there is an attempt to reign in AI deception and manipulation (via the AI Act which went into effect in early August).
https://arewelistening.net/article/eu-ai-act-sets-a-new-disclosure-test-for-podcasts.html
(excerpt) If a producer uses AI to generate complete phrases that a voice never recorded, clear disclosure is required under the interpretation reported by Production Expert. That could include a presenter’s apparently natural sentence, an inserted interview answer or narration created from text rather than spoken by the named voice.

That is different from using AI as part of ordinary post-production. Production Expert clarifies that de-noising, repairing audio and using AI editing tools do not, by themselves, amount to the kind of manipulation that requires disclosure under this explanation. The distinction matters because “AI-assisted” can describe very different production choices.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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Apple Signs Hiring and Licensing Deal With AI Podcast Startup Huxe

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