Apple Strikes AI Audio Deal With Huxe, Founded by Former NotebookLM Developers

Apple has reached a deal to license AI audio technology and recruit employees from Huxe, a startup founded by former members of Google's NotebookLM team, according to a European Commission disclosure.

The entry, dated June 9, gives Apple the right to make employment offers to certain Huxe employees and receive a non-exclusive license to the company's intellectual property. It is not an outright purchase of the startup. The filing does not identify the employees involved, confirm any completed hires, or disclose financial terms.

Raiza Martin, Jason Spielman, and Stephen Hughes founded Huxe after working on NotebookLM, Google's tool for turning documents and other source material into AI-generated audio discussions. Martin had led the NotebookLM team.

Huxe applied that approach to everyday listening. Its September 2025 launch introduced daily audio briefings built from a user's emails and calendar, alongside live stations that followed topics such as news, companies, and sports. Users could also generate a podcast about a subject they wanted to explore.

Users could also supply their own sources, including blog URLs, and have Huxe turn updates into audio discussions. The app offered a choice of two AI hosts from 19 voices.

Listening was interactive: users could interrupt the audio to ask a question, request a more detailed explanation, or change the topic. The app also showed contextual information on screen as the conversation progressed.

Huxe announced its shutdown on May 21, removing its apps from the App Store and Google Play and setting May 28 as the end of service. The team said it was moving on to new things and would stop developing the product.

Apple's plans for the technology have not been disclosed. The filing does not tie the agreement to Siri, Apple Podcasts, or any other Apple product.

Other recent deals have involved different forms of interaction technology. In January, Apple acquired Q.AI for nearly $2 billion, securing technology that can interpret silent speech from facial movements. A separate EU disclosure revealed its acquisition of Sonera assets, including magnetic sensors designed to detect brain and muscle activity without direct skin contact.