Report: Apple Bleeding Talent to OpenAI

[vantelimus]

It is interesting to see so much speculation about what a handful of executive departures at Apple supposedly signals. Very few people outside a company understand the internal incentives or the politics that shape these decisions. Interpreting every exit as a sign of company crisis is extreme.

A more plausible explanation is that Apple has entered a leadership-transition period. If the rumors of Tim Cook’s retirement next year have any basis, then it is entirely expected that senior executives (from the C-suite through the VP layer) would reassess their positions. Executive turnover during succession planning is common. A wise executive will prefer to act proactively rather than wait to be forced into reactive decisions later. Thus, the uncertainty leads people to secure their standing, pursue new opportunities, or time retirements. It does not necessarily signal organizational dysfunction.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Interpreting every exit as a sign of company crisis is extreme.

If the SVP of Hardware Tech leaves, I don't know how anyone could downplay the impact of such a loss.

(Johny Srouji)

 

[canukstorm]

And it looks like that one successful thing that Tim Cook did (building a formidable ecosystem around the iPhone and turning Apple into a multi-trillion dollar company) more than offsets all his other “failures” combined.

No, it doesn't because he's sacrificed Apple's future for the interests of shareholders today.

 

[JMalone]

1. The know nothing experts on AI in this discussion don’t know the difference between a voice assistant (Siri, Alexa, etc) and a language model (Foundation model, etc).

2. Meta and OpenAI are throwing around billions of investor money at talent, but they aren’t actually making much use of them. The metaverse is still garbage, Meta’s top AI scientist is giving up and doesn’t believe in language models, and ChatGPT is still just as annoying as last year.

3. Apple could throw billions around to retain talent but they don’t need to. Every Tom, Dick and Harry has been studying machine learning for the last 8 years and there’s plenty of new talent looking for jobs.

So use your heads guys and don’t be one of those people who uncritically read media hyperbole articles full of complete rubbish.

 

[vantelimus]

If the SVP of Hardware Tech leaves, I don't know how anyone could downplay the impact of such a loss.

(Johny Srouji)

First, this is a rumor, but let's treat it as fact. He announced to Cook his intent to leave and find a position at another company. He could be sincere and want to move on. He might see Apple's future development as just not that interesting to him. Or he could be trying a power play to increase and/or secure his position in a post-Cook Apple.

If he really wants to leave and isn't just playing politics, he is doing so for his own reasons, not because Apple is in trouble. There are few companies Srouji can move to laterally. He could be considering an EVP position at Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, or Nvidia. Or, the typical pattern for someone at his level, he might be looking at CEO or COO positions. There's not much room to move up when you are an SVP.

Yes, one could downplay his loss. There are no irreplaceable people in a competently managed company. Apple’s silicon success is built on a large, deep bench. Losing an SVP is not losing the architecture team, verification team, physical design team, or toolchain. Srouji is a manager, not an architect. His leadership may be gone, but his roadmap, the VPs, and the rest of the team are still there. The "Great Man Theory" works well for stories about 19th century robber barons, but it isn't supported by 20th-century organizational science. Apple survived the loss of Jobs (twice), Fadell, Forstall, Ive, etc.

 

[Fraserpatty]

I call this mass exodus “Siri’s Revenge”. Shouldn’t have ignored her for so many years. You can only neglect a woman for so long before she starts plotting to take you down.