Apple Vision Pro Development Leader Paul Meade Moves to OpenAI
The development lead for the Vision Pro headset and Apple’s smart glasses project, Paul Meade, is reported to be leaving the company to join OpenAI.
According to Macrumors on Friday (26/6) local time, Paul will depart Apple next week to join OpenAI’s hardware division, which focuses on developing artificial intelligence (AI) based devices. Paul took over as head of Apple’s Vision Products Group after Mike Rockwell, who previously led the Vision Pro project, transitioned to managing AI feature development for the virtual assistant Siri.
Prior to holding this position, Paul led the Vision Pro hardware engineering team. He also possesses a long-standing track record at Apple, having been involved in the development of the iPhone and iPad. Having joined Apple in 2010, Paul began his work with the Vision Products Group in 2017. In recent years, he has led the development of AI-based smart glasses that Apple is preparing to compete with Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses products.
In addition to the smart glasses project, Paul also led the team developing Apple’s next generation of augmented reality (AR) devices. The position left by Meade will be filled by Fletcher Rothkopf, who currently leads the product design team for Vision Pro and Apple’s smart glasses project.
Paul’s decision to leave Apple occurs amidst significant changes in the company’s leadership structure. Apple is reportedly preparing a leadership transition from CEO Tim Cook to John Ternus, who currently serves as the head of the hardware division. Should Ternus ascend to the CEO role, his position would be replaced by Apple’s chip division head, Johny Srouji. This restructuring is said to have triggered dissatisfaction among several Apple hardware executives.
Meanwhile, OpenAI continues to strengthen its ambitions in the hardware sector by recruiting several former Apple executives. In addition to Meade, the ChatGPT developer has previously brought in former Apple design head Jony Ive, former Apple product design deputy Tang Tan, and former Apple industrial design head Evans Hankey.