Apple to shut down its AI team comprising 121 employees

Apple is closing down its San Diego-based team of 121 employees responsible for artificial intelligence operations. 

The team, named Data Operations Annotations, is being relocated to Austin to merge with the Texas branch of the same team. Initially comprising contractors who listened to Siri queries, the team transitioned to full-time employees focusing on enhancing Siri through voice service queries in various languages. 

The team focused on using Siri in multiple languages, including Hebrew, English, Spanish dialects, Portuguese, Arabic, and French. A top deputy to Apple's AI chief, John Giannandrea, made the announcement, as reported by Bloomberg.

An Apple spokeswoman explained that the decision aims to consolidate its "Data Operations Annotations teams in the US together at our campus in Austin, where a majority of the team is already based." As per the report, all current employees would have the opportunity to continue their roles with Apple in Austin. 

However, employees are given the option to relocate or face termination by April 26 if they choose not to move.

A significant number of affected workers have voiced their reluctance to relocate to Austin, with concerns about eligibility for roles due to a lack of engineering backgrounds. Apple has informed employees about the option to apply for other positions, but specifics about future employment prospects remain elusive.

The company is offering a $7,000 relocation stipend to employees who choose to move to Austin by the end of June. The ones that decline the offer will see their roles eliminated, receiving severance pay based on their length of service and six months of health insurance.

This move marks a departure from Apple's previous trend of avoiding significant layoffs during the pandemic. Recently, Paytm's parent company, One97 Communications, has laid off over 1,000 employees across multiple units with the impacted roles being replaced by artificial intelligence-led automation. 

Similarly, Google also has plans to lay off 30,000 employees from ad sales since its AI-powered campaign planner, Performance Max, can create ads that require no human intervention. Adtech firm, InMobi is also set to reduce its global workforce by 5% as it embraces an AI-first strategy, according to reports.