The decision to close the San Diego group was announced by Christine DeFilippo, a top deputy to Apple AI chief John Giannandrea. An Apple spokeswoman confirmed the relocation decision, stating that the company is bringing its “Data Operations Annotations teams in the US together at our campus in Austin." Employees who choose to leave Apple will receive four weeks of severance, plus an additional week for every year worked, and six months of health insurance.
Key takeaways:
- Apple Inc. is closing a 121-person team related to artificial intelligence operations in San Diego and relocating them to Austin, Texas. Employees have until the end of February to decide if they will relocate, or they will be terminated on April 26.
- The group, known as Data Operations Annotations, is responsible for improving Siri by listening to queries to the voice service and determining if it heard and handled questions accurately.
- Apple is offering $7,000 relocation stipends to those willing to move, and those who choose to leave will receive four weeks of severance plus an additional week for every year worked, and six months of health insurance.
- A small number of employees in the group have begun assisting Apple with a move to AI products based on large language models (LLMs), with plans to announce its LLM plans in June.