Malcolm Owen
Apple's director of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, has resigned from the company after three years, in part due to the iPhone maker's policies about returning to work in offices.
The machine learning lead is leaving over three years after he joined Apple, as part of Apple's bid to increase its existing AI and machine learning technologies development. In an email to staff, Goodfellow confirmed the imminent departure.
While the official reasons for leaving are unknown, Goodfellow did let on that the policy change by Apple to get more people working from its offices was an issue. "I believe strongly that more flexibility would have been the best policy for my team," Goodfellow wrote in the note according to Zoe Schiffer of The Verge.
Goodfellow joined Apple in March 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile, as the "Director of Machine Learning in the Special Projects Group." The profile has yet to be updated with the departure.
Previously, Goodfellow worked for Google as a senior staff research scientist. He is also known for his work on Generative Adversarial Networks, or GANs, which put two competing neural networks against each other, so as to improve the accuracy of the systems.
The policy at issue had Apple setting staff to work at its various offices from April 11 onward, starting with a hybrid work schedule of one day per week in the office and gradually increasing the in-office days over time.
Not all Apple employees are keen to proceed with the plan. One survey of a small number of employees found a high proportion were actively looking for employment elsewhere, with the return-to-office policy, the possibility of COVID infections, a toxic company culture, and a lack of a work-life balance cited as reasons for the need to move on.
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63 Comments
Did the AI he created advise him to leave? :-)
What a great time for apple to turn this into a win for itself, it’s employees and the general workforce. Apple should say, “hey, losing all these good employees bcoz we can’t budge on our RTW Policy isn’t worth it, so maybe we can compromise…”
seems to me perhaps apple (and business in general) doesn’t trust their employees integrity much. Maybe it’s time to let go of that extremely outdated work ethic. I think we’re seeing the American workforce has had a taste of what a real “work/life balance,” actually looks like and they really like it. Good for company moral and good for employee production and ultimately good for the company.
People work in retail/manufacturing: this guy must look down on me.
While the pace at which Apple is returning to work seems too fast given the uptick in covid*, Goodfellow certainly had another job offer that he liked better and where he negotiated for more WFH. Any company trying to recruit top talent can use WFH as an enticement. For anyone who cares heavily about their work and legacy, though, the decision will almost always come down to the nature of the work itself.
*I believe Apple will soon need to respond more fluidly/pragmatically to the rise in covid. In just a few days perhaps, Goodfellow's WFH rationale may be moot.
It doesn't make a lot of sense to us who aren't Apple employees, but I am aware that most of the appealing jobs are at the Cupertino headquarters, where the cost of living is absolutely insane. It would be great to work at Apple while being able to live in an area with more reasonable rent and living expenses, which would only be possible if most work was done remotely.