Apple's Director of Machine Learning Resigns Due to Return to Office Work

[dysamoria]

"The graveyard is filled with irreplaceable men." Napoleon.

Not sure what that's supposed to imply. EVERYONE dies.

Are you saying corporations view everyone as expendable and replaceable? Yeah, we know this already. Should employees not have be allowed to exercise free agency? Should they stay at jobs with situations they dislike because... they're replaceable? I mean, that's not a motivator for increased loyalty.

 

[4jasontv]

Interesting. There are a number of typos in the original study at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04643-y (one of which suggested the opposite of their apparent findings), and the experiments were based on a scenario that is... well... I'm not sure how applicable it is to the daily business of most any company that is resisting work-from-home models as a norm. It seems the only task examined here was "idea generation", and that is NOT what the majority of office work is about. Even for creative workers, the actual WORK itself is labor, often a solo labor, and not a continuous state of interacting with others.

I certainly accept that modality affects social behavior, but there's so much diversity in social behavior and in people, in the first place. There are people who would LOVE to be part of an in-person workplace, and others who DESPISE the concept and only do it because they have no other choice. Then there are people in each group who would feel oppositely if the social experience/environment were different (better suited them, or home life sucked, etc).

This makes me wonder about selection bias: are the people who volunteer to make a few bucks on a social experiment more likely to show these very results?

This part is especially curious:

"Participants (334) from a university student and staff pool in the United States participated in the study in exchange for US$15. We also recruited 18 participants from Craigslist in an effort to accelerate data collection. However, the students reported feeling uncomfortable, and idea generation performance dropped substantially with student–craigslist pairs, so we removed these pairs from the analysis."

I would love to know what was going on with the Craigslist participants. It again makes me wonder how the results may be skewed based on participant selection.

Then there is the focus of the study authors:

Marketing Division, Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Melanie S. Brucks

Marketing Division, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Jonathan Levav

Marketing divisions at business schools... There may be implicit bias right here. Who paid for this study and why? The word "fund" was not present anywhere on the page.

I'm not dismissing it out of hand. I am trying to be thoughtful about this. There may be value in the findings, it may or may not apply to the topic of this conversation thread, or the study may be entirely biased and non-applicable to any job at all.

That it's not relevant to daily businesses because it focuses on a task you perceive as infrequent, but then you claim the most common labor is solo labor. Solo labor can be done anywhere, so it wouldn't be particularly relevant to study. This study focused on collaborative interactions and I don't see how individual work would be relevant to include.

You also say that people might want to work from an office if they don't want to be home. Well, yeah. People would also like to be on antibiotics if they have a bacterial infection. Employers shouldn't be making policies based on possible domestic issues.

The craigslist thing was weird. It sounds like they wanted to look at cultural differences, but something happened.

I don't see anything about their profession that implies bias, but the lack of financial disclosure is concerning. The field data was collected as part of a voluntary (for employee) workshop, which implies but doesn't formally state a relationship with included businesses. The more troubling component was the laboratory compensation, as that has a substantial financial cost that justifies disclosure. I am surprised Nature doesn't have a blanket policy where all cash compensation requires disclosure in the conflict of interest section.

 

[I7guy]

This is a very cliché way of seeing things. If the work is being done then it doesn’t matter to anyone other than the quality of life has improved for the person concerned

It may matter to the company. It may matter how efficient an employee is in getting their job done.

 

[dysamoria]

Lol really? Show me 5 major corporations where the entire team is ok with work at home and allowed to do so now that pandemic is pretty much over and done with and has major expensive commercial property’s. Especially those with major impact on the world and is publicly traded not a small team of 100 or less.

I’ll wait.

Maybe don't start with extreme / absolute positions and a weird appeal to power...

 

[pshufd]

It is clear there has been a huge productivity drop across so many sectors with working at home. It’s a tough trade off but most people will be returning to work because they are just not getting enough done.

Yes. People getting sick, hospitalized and dying do affect productivity.

 

[Pezimak]

I think a possible consequence of remote work will be lower salaries for all such positions regardless of where one lives. A person living in NYC or San Francisco will eventually not have the power to command a higher salary if someone from rural Nebraska will take the job. The employer will simply say, "You don't have to live in San Francisco so I'm not paying you a salary to support you there."

I also like remote work, but this environment of empowered workers will not last. Companies will always readjust to swing employment conditions back in their favor. The pandemic caught them off guard and they are still figuring out how to take advantage of the situation--but they will.

No they won’t, because if you lower wages across the board you lower the overall economy, and house prices will drop in all areas too, not that that’s a bad thing.

 

[dysamoria]

Or stockholders frightened that Apple Park becoming a white elephant will harm their holding. So many non-declared stock holders post here it should be an SEC violation.

❤️? I wanted to click the "laugh" reaction, but I didn't want to leave it open to interpretation as mockery.

The amount of antisocial personality disorders on display in Apple Insider forums drove me to abandon their forums and spend more time on MacRumors. The mix is a little less toxic here (I don't feel entirely alone in being pro-society here), but it's still pretty much a room of corporatists and Wall Street gamblers.

 

[tYNS]

You have no clue on the background of this guy and his options.

Never said I did. However, his mainstream narrative thanks to websites like this, is a pouty, self entitled baby who doesn't respect his employers wish to return to work. If he wants to "protest", all the power to him. I wouldn't touch that guy with a 10 foot poll if I were hiring. The problem is the insanity of "leeway" companies are affording these employees. Apple has its structure and you need to respect it as an employee. It is the classic give an inch take a mile. The lack of respect and "you owe me" mindset is so far extreme now. The entire world is losing the sense of rules and respect for others and their employers. It's getting so far beyond gross. I have had a handful of job titles in the tech field, if I pulled this crap I would have lost all respect for myself. I grew up with a family business that we all pitched in hard to succeed. We gave the community the honour of providing employment at our business. There are unions and/or laws protecting employees. This entire mindset of the employees dictating the rules is insulting to the companies that provide the employment and the leadership that knows what they are doing to make the business successful. Believe what you want. But when the tables turn and their "expertise" aren't required in the work force anymore, I would love to see them pull that "protest" mentality crap.

 

[Zaft]

A hybrid approach with a couple days from home and a couple from work I think is fine. But 100% home?

 

[4jasontv]

I also like remote work, but this environment of empowered workers will not last. Companies will always readjust to swing employment conditions back in their favor. The pandemic caught them off guard and they are still figuring out how to take advantage of the situation--but they will.

Of course, but that's justification for the people to be less flexible about this concern.

Yes. People getting sick, hospitalized and dying do affect productivity.

Please adjust image sizes.

 

[KillerTree]

If Apple's data shows workers are 10% less productive while working from home, they'll soon regret forcing office work when their workers who are 100% more productive than average leave to other companies that allow work-from-home.

 

[tYNS]

Why does he need to respect his employer? This is about an exchange of labour.

Oh, and the woke slur. How predictable.

Your comment is a prime example of "Wokeness". All about me, me, me. No respect for the guy giving you the cheque and having the business to allow your employment. Good luck with that mentality when your services are no longer required by anyone.

 

[dysamoria]

I bet this fellow is happy for all the grocery store clerks, baristas, dentists, auto mechanics, etc. who show up-in person to do their jobs.

You're comparing unlike jobs and using the disparity to attack the character of a person you know next to nothing about.

It's actually possible to support the agency of grocery store clerks, baristas, dentists, auto mechanics, etc. AND to support this guy's right to negotiate with his employer, and leave the job if said negotiations fail to provide the working parameters he wishes to have.

 

[I7guy]

If Apple's data shows workers are 10% less productive while working from home, they'll soon regret forcing office work when their workers who are 100% more productive than average leave to other companies that allow work-from-home.

Apple should let the employees leave. Why keep unhappy employees on the payroll?

 

[4jasontv]

Your comment is a prime example of "Wokeness". All about me, me, me. No respect for the guy giving you the cheque and having the business to allow your employment. Good luck with that mentality when your services are no longer required by anyone.

Historically, employers care more about the welfare of their employees than profit. So it seems reasonable that employees should suffer if it helps drive the business.

 

[dysamoria]

Jeez ? This is lame. Apple is better off without people like this. I was working in the office the whole time. Why should Apple employees be different?

"I had to suffer, so everyone else should suffer too."

 

[mzeb]

Wow! I can’t believe these people are really refusing to go back to work. They got so used to working from home.

Think of it at a most basic quality of life standpoint. For me as an engineer I have a better setup at home than I ever did at work because it wasn't standard IT hardware. Beyond that, I can cook lunch for me and the fam on my lunch break and eat with them. They know work time means they don't get to come in the office because I need to focus and chat with coworkers. The one exception to this rule is the dog who gets to sleep on my foot which is awesome stress reduction.
Were my company to require me to go back I lose all these things for a marginal (though unproven) gain in team cohesion (although my team is just as horrible and snarky as always, even with the two covid hires, so I think cohesion isn't a problem). There are companies like mine that realize this situation is better for a majority of people. Why wouldn't the seek this out? It isn't for everyone and every job but it works well for many.

 

[pshufd]

What does it matter?

This is notable, or newsworthy, because there's a major cultural change going on due to COVID19 shutdowns revealing the lie that everyone should always be in the office to do work. A high-level person at Apple has left his job due to Apple executives not being willing to allow him to work from home.

Look at the endless comments here already: it's a noteworthy event that has sparked lots of commentary. MacRumors.com has put the discussion into the "political" forum because they knew it was a hot-button issue.

This guy is a rockstar:



Ian J. Goodfellow[1] (born 1985 or 1986) is a computer scientist, engineer, and executive, most noted for his work on artificial neural networks and deep learning. He was previously employed as a research scientist at Google Brain and director of machine learning at Apple and has made several important contributions to the field of deep learning including the invention of the generative adversarial network (GAN). Goodfellow wrote the chapter on deep learning in the most popular textbook in the field of artificial intelligence, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (used in more than 1,500 universities in 135 countries), as well as the textbook Deep Learning.[2]

Biography​

Goodfellow obtained his B.S. and M.S. in computer science from Stanford University under the supervision of Andrew Ng,[3] and his Ph.D. in machine learning from the Université de Montréal in April 2014, under the supervision of Yoshua Bengio (2018 ACM A.M. Turing Award for his work in deep learning) and Aaron Courville. His thesis is titled Deep learning of representations and its application to computer vision.[4][5] After graduation, Goodfellow joined Google as part of the Google Brain research team.[6] He then left Google to join the newly founded OpenAI research laboratory.[7][8] He returned to Google Research in March 2017.

Goodfellow is best known for inventing generative adversarial networks.[1] At Google, he developed a system enabling Google Maps to automatically transcribe addresses from photos taken by Street View cars[9][10] and demonstrated security vulnerabilities of machine learning systems.[11][12]

In 2017, Goodfellow was cited in MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35.[13] In 2019, he was included in Foreign Policy's list of 100 Global Thinkers[14] and left Google and joined Apple as director of machine learning the Special Projects Group.[15][16] In April 2022 he resigned to protest Apple's plan to require in-person work for its employees.[17]

 

[4jasontv]

Apple should let the employees leave. Why keep unhappy employees on the payroll.

Why keep productive employees on payroll during a labor shortage by making a small concession that has a huge impact on job satisfaction?

Money?

 

[Pezimak]

Think of it at a most basic quality of life standpoint. For me as an engineer I have a better setup at home than I ever did at work because it wasn't standard IT hardware. Beyond that, I can cook lunch for me and the fam on my lunch break and eat with them. They know work time means they don't get to come in the office because I need to focus and chat with coworkers. The one exception to this rule is the dog who gets to sleep on my foot which is awesome stress reduction.
Were my company to require me to go back I lose all these things for a marginal (though unproven) gain in team cohesion (although my team is just as horrible and snarky as always, even with the two covid hires, so I think cohesion isn't a problem). There are companies like mine that realize this situation is better for a majority of people. Why wouldn't the seek this out? It isn't for everyone and every job but it works well for many.

That’s the truth, you have a works laptop, but beyond that it’s your mouse, keyboard, desk, chair, and monitor. No work enforced budget equipment. The it‘ll do Dell supplied mouse etc.

 

[Boris Bronson]

Your comment is a prime example of "Wokeness". All about me, me, me. No respect for the guy giving you the cheque and having the business to allow your employment. Good luck with that mentality when your services are no longer required by anyone.

lol - I’m very happy in my job; you try homeworking sometime.

 

[I7guy]

Why keep productive employees on payroll during a labor shortage by making a small concession that has a huge impact on job satisfaction?

Money?

And a huge negative impact on efficiency? Remember CA is an at will employement state.

 

[pshufd]

Never said I did. However, his mainstream narrative thanks to websites like this, is a pouty, self entitled baby who doesn't respect his employers wish to return to work. If he wants to "protest", all the power to him. I wouldn't touch that guy with a 10 foot poll if I were hiring. The problem is the insanity of "leeway" companies are affording these employees. Apple has its structure and you need to respect it as an employee. It is the classic give an inch take a mile. The lack of respect and "you owe me" mindset is so far extreme now. The entire world is losing the sense of rules and respect for others and their employers. It's getting so far beyond gross. I have had a handful of job titles in the tech field, if I pulled this crap I would have lost all respect for myself. I grew up with a family business that we all pitched in hard to succeed. We gave the community the honour of providing employment at our business. There are unions and/or laws protecting employees. This entire mindset of the employees dictating the rules is insulting to the companies that provide the employment and the leadership that knows what they are doing to make the business successful. Believe what you want. But when the tables turn and their "expertise" aren't required in the work force anymore, I would love to see them pull that "protest" mentality crap.

Read his bio which I posted below. The guy is a legitimate rockstar that can move between companies and academia. I've seen guys like this and they can have their pick of great jobs. Or start their own companies.

 

[fourthtunz]

That sounds more like a fault of your company than anything else. Entire production studios are working from home in my industry, the people putting movies and tv shows together, and it's been perfectly fine. Deadlines are still hit.

Well tech is different than your industry. And I would think he knows his company and industry better
than you do, how would you know it's the fault of the company without even knowing the company?

 

[dysamoria]

is Johny Srouji replaceable too?

Probably, ultimately. Easily replaceable? Probably not. Maybe the person they would replace him with would be utterly incapable of doing presentations for Apple's PR videos, but knows silicon so well that it's worth Apple finding someone else to do the presentations. Maybe a new person would be socially toxic, and then Apple would have to decide who to replace the replacement with (or, like many corporations, they'd let the toxic behavior stand because they only care about the work the person does and don't care about correcting a toxic workplace).

It all depends on which attributes a company can live with and which attributes they cannot. The same goes for employees who have the freedom to choose their employer (which are few and far between). There are some real geniuses out there, and the level of knowledge and skill needed for tech becomes rarer and rarer. May be a good reason to stop pushing against diversity when looking for tech people...