Apple has poached dozens of Google AI experts for its Zurich lab

AppleInsider

Apple's Zurich Vision Lab has moved on from the Apple Car and has been poaching Google staff to work on the future of Apple's AI products.

Zurich

In 2017, AppleInsider reported on the existence of what's believed to be called the Zurich Vision Lab, an Apple Research facility in Switzerland. It was then understood to be concentrating on the now-defunct Apple Car project.

By 2023 the facility was believed to be looking at all future Apple projects, including AI.

Now according to the Financial Times, the facility is concentrating on AI, and as part of that has been steadily poaching Google staff. This started in 2018 with the very public hiring of John Giannandrea, previously Google's chief of AI and search.

Tuesday's report says that he has since been followed by at least 36 other Google AI experts. The publication based this on a study of LinkedIn profiles, plus job postings and research papers.

Specifically, Apple has reportedly been recruiting for staff in generative AI across two locations in Zurich. One of the two unnamed locations is reported to be so low profile that the Financial Times says a neighbor was unaware of the office's existence.

Even before Giannandrea joined, the publication says that Apple was employing AI staff. It quotes Chuck Wooters, an expert in conversational AI and LLMs who worked on Siri for 21 months from 2013.

"During the time that I was there," he said, "one of the pushes that was happening in the Siri group was to move to a neural architecture for speech recognition."

"Even back then, before large language models took off," he continued, "they were huge advocates of neural networks."

The report concentrates on how Apple has this Zurich facility, but that has been known for seven years. It then connects that to how Apple has been recruiting from Google, and recent Apple research papers have been led by ex-Google staff.

What the publication does not do is put those ex-Google employees into context. It isn't clear, for instance, what proportion of the Zurich Vision Lab staff are from Google.

That said, what is clear is that yet again, these employees and that Zurich facility demonstrate that Apple is not behind the industry in AI.



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gatorguy

This is responding to the market and not Apple users, and IMO based on "leaks" from Apple to trusted journalists. There's certainly been a lot of recent drum-beating, evidence that Apple is worried about perceptions in the stock market.....

edited April 2024

alex_v

Why would Apple want to micro-manipulate their share price? They are already fantastically profitable, incredibly competitive, kick-ass technology, a sky-high valuation, etc. Every year they seem to meet or exceed market expectations. It’s Google that is most threatened by generative AI coming along and decimating search — the foundation of Google’s surveillance-advertising business model. 

gatorguy

Alex_V said:

Why would Apple want to micro-manipulate their share price? 

I doubt that was a serious question, but in case it was...

For very obvious reasons it might be in their best interests to "answer to the market" at times, and this is one of those IMHO. Rich people want answers when they begin to lose money on paper with a declining stock price, even if they don't need it for anything.  Apple shares are also used as carrots in recruiting, and forms the majority pay basis for executive leadership who put a LOT of value on what their shares are worth as they divest. 

edited April 2024

dewme

The term "poaching" has such negative connotations and is an implicit claim of an illegal activity. By using it in the headline you are poisoning the well. Offering incentives for skilled professionals who are currently employed with other firms to join you're firm isn't poaching, it's fully legitimate recruiting. Every company needs a certain amount of movement, i.e., turnover, inflow/outflow, in the ranks to prevent complacency and stagnation. Taking on a new role can also be a very positive career move for someone who has untapped/underutilized potential or has hit a wall with their current employer. Calling it poaching does a disservice to those who are choosing to make a move based on what's being offered to them. It's not like employers get a bad rap for laying off employees. They get rewarded by the stock market if the body count is sufficiently high enough to bump the stock price. Those affected are often treated like disposable refuse, severance package or not.

edited April 2024

alex_v

gatorguy said:

Alex_V said:

Why would Apple want to micro-manipulate their share price? 

I doubt that was a serious question, but in case it was...

i was making a serious point but the question is rhetorical. The calendar presents Apple with plenty of opportunities to speak to investors, including their product launches, at WWDC, etc 

blastdoor

dewme said:

The term "poaching" has such negative connotations and is an implicit claim of an illegal activity. By using it in the headline you are poisoning the well.

I think you might be overreacting.

blastdoor

Apple is not behind the industry in AI.

Not disagreeing, but even if they were behind I don’t think it’s a big deal. Apple has the financial resources and organizational effectiveness to catch up in areas where they might fall behind. 

Everybody falls behind in something at sometime. 

That’s a natural consequence of making choices. The key is to recognize when you’ve fallen behind in something that you care about and then to do something about it. Apple has those capes in spades.

danox

Apple when compared to Microsoft, Google, Meta, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm and Nvidia is the most complete tech company not necessary the best but is the one company that pivot into all areas and stand a chance of success not displace them but is able to disrupt the others in a big way over time in house OS and SOC design and engineering means more control over your fate/path assuming you don't do what Motorola, IBM, or Intel did.

For example Intel and AMD are disrupted in a big way by Apple Silicon and will be even more disrupted if Microsoft and Qualcomm following Apple lead manage to do the same. Intel and AMD won't go out of business but the era of big dollars for Intel in particular will be over.

We haven't heard the last of what that Apple R1 chip can do or why Apple put Lidar in iPhone/iPads five years ago.