Apple’s Vision Pro Chief Joins OpenAI, Raising The Stakes In AI Devices

Paul Meade, the Apple vice president who spent seven years leading Vision Pro hardware and the company's smart glasses program, is leaving to join OpenAI.

OpenAI Hardware Unit Lands Apple Veteran

The departure first surfaced on Friday, with Meade expected to leave Apple within the week and begin work at OpenAI's hardware unit on a planned family of AI-powered devices.

Both companies declined to comment. Apple shares pared earlier gains on the news.

Meade spent roughly 15 years at Apple, joining in 2010 as an iPad manager, running iPhone program management from 2012, moving to the Vision Products Group in 2017, and taking over its hardware engineering two years later. He became one of the company's most respected engineering leaders during that run.

Also Read: Chainlink's Wallet Record Turns LINK's $9 Rebound Into The Main Test

OpenAI Builds Its AI Device Push

Meade joins a growing roster of former Apple talent inside OpenAI, a group that already includes design chief Jony Ive, former hardware lead Evans Hankey, and product designer Tang Tan.

The three had shaped some of Apple's most recognizable products across two decades. It is rare for an Apple vice president to defect to a direct competitor, aside from the designers who already crossed over.

That team sold its AI hardware startup, io, to OpenAI last year for $6.5 billion, and the company has signaled plans to ship several new devices, possibly including a smart speaker, in the coming years. Meade brings the hands-on hardware engineering at scale that a design-heavy group needs to turn early prototypes into shipping consumer products.

Apple Restructuring Drives The Exit

Meade's departure traces to a shake-up that followed John Ternus' rise to Apple CEO, a transition set for Sept. 1. Chip boss Johny Srouji moved up to chief hardware officer and reorganized the engineering unit just weeks before the handover. Several vice presidents, Meade among them, now report to a new hardware engineering chief rather than to Srouji directly.

Fletcher Rothkopf, Meade's longtime deputy, will take over much of the Vision Products Group as Apple shifts focus from its mixed-selling headset toward lighter eyewear.

The company is also chasing other AI hardware, from smart-home gadgets and a tabletop robot to a wearable pendant and AirPods that can see a user's surroundings.

The Vision Pro once stood as Apple's bet on the next major computing platform, but weak sales pushed the company to scale back enclosed headsets. The exit also caps a steady run of high-profile defections from Cupertino to AI and hardware rivals. Apple lost design leader Alan Dye to Meta in December as OpenAI drew away hardware engineers.

Read Next: XRP Falls Near $1 While ETF Buyers Test A Weak Spot Market