Apple announced Monday that the head of its artificial intelligence division will step down and a veteran engineer from Google and Microsoft will take over the division.
The company announced Thursday that general counsel Kate Adams and vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives Lisa Jackson are leaving the company.
In another development, Meta hired Alan Dye, Apple’s longtime head of user interface design.
The departure of Apple’s senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy, John Gianandrea, scheduled for early 2025, comes at a time when the departure of the company’s top leadership is imminent.
Mr. Gianandrea will serve as an advisor for the remainder of his service.
“We’re grateful for the role John has played in building and advancing our AI research,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a post announcing the news.
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General counsel Kate Adams and policy director Lisa Jackson, who both reported to Mr Cook, are the latest senior executives to leave.
Adams joined Apple from Honeywell in 2017 and oversaw its litigation, global security and privacy efforts at a time of heightened antitrust scrutiny, including a major U.S. lawsuit over App Store policies. Jackson, who joined the company in 2013, led many of Apple’s diversity programs and policy efforts in Washington, D.C.
She previously served as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama.
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Dai’s departure is another blow to Apple’s design organization, which has been steadily hollowing out since Jony Ive left in 2019, Bloomberg reported.
Mr. Dai rose to prominence after Mr. Ive’s departure and helped shape the design of Apple’s recent software and devices. He informed Apple of his decision to resign this week, a move that top leadership had expected.
His departure adds to the list of high-level departures. COO Jeff Williams left last month, AI head John Gianandrea left, and former hardware head Dan Riccio also left in the fall. Bloomberg reported that several executives, including Tim Cook, are nearing retirement age and turnover could be even higher.
Dye doesn’t join Meta alone. Billy Sorrentino, who has been Apple’s senior design director since 2016, will also join the company.
