Will Apple's Top Machine Learning Research Resign Due to 'Release Remote Work'?

by Shinya Suzuki

As companies adopting telecommuting (remote work) have become common due to the influence of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19), as the pandemic calms down, when and how the activities are restored. Should I restart? The policy is beginning to divide in each company. As of May 2020, Apple had announced that it would stop working from home and work in the office for a few days of the week, but The Verge reporter Zoe Schiffer reported. , Apple's director of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, resigned four years after joining the company because of 'dissatisfaction with returning to office work', and various opinions about remote work have been received. increase.

Apple's Director of Machine Learning Resigns Due to Return to Office Work --MacRumors
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/05/07/apple-director-of-machine-learning-resigns/

Since Twitter became the first major company to permanently allow employees to work remotely after the COVID-19 pandemic ended, each major company has announced a policy regarding remote work. Amazon has set the number of work days when reopening the office to 'freedom for each team' and allows full remote, Google is requesting resumption of office work but repeatedly postponing that period, Facebook's operating company Meta has announced that many of its employees will be able to work remotely over the long term, and major companies are planning to continue their permanent or long-term remote work one after another.

Twitter allows employees to work at home even after the end of the new corona-GIGAZINE

On the other hand, it is reported that Apple is proceeding with a plan to return employees to the office in May 2020, and from September 2021, the work style of '2 remotes per week, 3 attendances per week' will be changed from CEO Tim Cook to employees. Is being requested for. Some employees responded to this request by sending a letter to CEO Cook saying, 'I want a flexible approach that allows me to work completely remotely.'

Employees oppose the '2 remotes per week, 3 attendances per week' that Apple plans to introduce, and voices requesting work style reforms are expanding --GIGAZINE

In response to the backlash from employees, it was announced that the introduction of '2 remotes per week, 3 attendances per week' would be extended until February 2022, after which Cook CEO told the employees 'to office work'. The return date is uncertain, 'said Zoe Schiffer, a reporter at The Verge, a tech newsmedia , who said it was supposed to postpone the release of remote work indefinitely.

However, according to a new report by Schiffer on May 8, 2022, Ian Goodfellow, who has been the director of Apple's machine learning research team since 2019 after joining the top team of AI research at Google. Announced his resignation and in an email sent to staff when he resigned, 'Apple requires employees to work in the office two days a week by April 11. I want to be more flexible. I strongly believe it was the best bet for the team, 'he said, complaining about returning to office work.

Ian Goodfellow, Apple's director of machine learning, is leaving the company due to its return to work policy. In a note to staff, he said “I believe strongly that more flexibility would have been the best policy for my team.” He was likely the company's most cited ML expert.

— Zoë Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer) May 7, 2022

Goodfellow is a deep learning tycoon who developed ' hostile generation networks (GANs) ' for artificial intelligence algorithms, and at MacRumors, which summarizes news and opinions related to Apple and Apple products, 'Apple is a corporate policy. Has robbed competitors of their greatest talents, 'says Goodfellow's resignation. Others sympathize with 'it's pretty difficult to get back to a stressful office after working in a comfortable home' and 'software work should almost eliminate the need for an office'. Productivity at home is definitely lower than productivity at the office. '' Team-up that works face-to-face several times a week has great significance for software development. '' Develop products that are strongly closely related to the user's life. However, the fact that we are developing in a relaxed home makes us feel uneasy, 'and there is a discussion about the policies of remote work and office work that accompany the calmness of the pandemic.