According to 'Bloomberg,' he departed in part because of Apple's return-to-office policy.
According to Bloomberg, an Apple official who handled the company's machine learning and artificial intelligence efforts has departed the company in recent weeks, citing the company's strict return-to-office policy. Ian Goodfellow, who left Google for Apple a few years ago, is apparently joining Google's DeepMind team as an individual contributor. Goodfellow worked at Google in various positions since 2013, according to his LinkedIn page, including as a research scientist and a software engineering intern.
According to Bloomberg, the former Apple executive mentioned the policy in a memo to employees regarding his leaving. Apple stated in April that it would begin enforcing its return-to-office policy on May 23rd, requiring employees to work in the company's offices at least three days per week.
DeepMind is a machine learning startup that Google bought in 2014, and it has announced the launch of Gato, a multi-modal multi-task AI system. It's unclear what Goodfellow's position at DeepMind will be, but he previously worked as a Google research scientist. According to Bloomberg, Goodfellow is regarded as one of the best machine learning researchers, thus this might be a significant loss for Apple.
Goodfellow announced his departure from Apple in an emailed statement to coworkers, citing the company's plans to return to in-person employment. He wrote, "I am convinced that more flexibility would have been the greatest policy for my team."
In April, Apple began forcing corporate workers to work one day per week in the office, which was extended to two days per week in May. Apple had planned to have staff work three days a week starting on May 23, but that date has been pushed back due to an increase in COVID infections across the US. Employees are still expected to work at Apple's campuses and offices at least two days each week for the moment.
However, according to the New York Times, the corporation has modified its attitude on remote work and will now establish a pilot program in which some employees will only come into the office twice a week. Google has already been implementing a "hybrid work" strategy that requires employees to physically work in the company's offices on some days of the week, but Goodfellow may have selected a position that gives him greater flexibility.
Goodfellow oversaw Apple's autonomous technology developers and created a technique that allowed Google Maps to automatically transcribe locations from Street View automobile photographs. He's best renowned, however, for inventing generative adversarial networks, or GANs, which may be used to make deepfakes.
Along with Goodfellow, a number of Apple employees have spoken out against returning to in-person work, despite the fact that Apple plans to allow them to work from home two days per week once work schedules return to normal. Apple Together, a group of employees, wrote a letter to Apple's leadership team in May, arguing that the hybrid work plan "does not respect flexible work and is simply driven by fear."
Other technological companies, like as Meta and Google, have established more flexible working alternatives, which may entice Apple employees who dislike working in an office. Google, for example, has invited staff to come to work, but it has granted exemptions to many who still choose to work from home.
