Apple’s Ex-AI Exec, Who Disagreed with its Return-to-Work Rules, Heads Back to Google

Apple's former head of AI and machine learning, who left the iPhone maker over its return-to-work policy, now jumps to another tech giant, Google.

The ex-Apple exec Ian Goodfellow used to be part of Google before he transferred to the former. He then led both the artificial intelligence and machine learning projects of the Cupertino-based tech giant, as per a news story by 9to5Mac.

Apple's Ex-AI Exec vs. Return-to-Work Policy

It is worth noting that Goodfellow bid his farewell to Apple after he valiantly disagreed with the latest return-to-work policy of the iPhone maker, requiring its employees to show up in person.

The life-changing COVID-19 pandemic previously allowed more flexibility in the workforce of Apple, allowing its employees to work from the confines of their homes without the need to report to its offices.

Tech giants like Apple and Google had to adopt the new working scheme to move forward with their operations amid the rising cases of the novel coronavirus in the past two years.

However, as the number of cases has dwindled over time, thanks to vaccination and health protocols., companies are trying to go back to their pre-pandemic work setup, wherein their employees report to their offices.

But the head of machine learning at Apple, Goodfellow, believes that the work setup should accept more flexibility these days. He said in a memo to his team that "more flexibility would have been the best policy for my team, taking a swipe at the return-to-work rules of Apple.

The Cupertino giant plans to require its workers to report to its offices three times a week. Employees have been airing consistent complaints against this in-person policy of Apple.

As such, the machine director of Apple, who joined the renowned tech firm, ended his three-year stint early this month.

Apple's Former Machine Learning Head Returns to Google

It now appears that Goodfellow is moving forward shortly after leaving Apple.

According to the latest report by Bloomberg, Goodfellow is returning to Google, which he left a few years ago in favor of working on the machine learning project of Apple.

The ex-machine learning head is reportedly on its way to join the DeepMind unit of the parent firm of Google, Alphabet Inc, innominate sources of Bloomberg say. It is interesting to point out that Goodfellow used to be a senior researcher of the giant search engine.

The news outlet also reported that Goodfellow is going to be an individual contributor to the DeepMind division.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Teejay Boris