Alan Dye, the design executive who led Apple’s user interface team for the last decade, is leaving the company to join Meta. This news comes from a report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
This hire represents a significant move for Meta as the company pushes further into consumer devices like smart glasses and virtual reality headsets. In his new role, Dye will focus on improving the artificial intelligence features within these devices and will report directly to Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth.
At Apple, Dye will be replaced by Steve Lemay. Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that Lemay has played a key role in the design of every major Apple interface since 1999.
This recruitment appears to be part of a broader strategy by Meta to draw talent from its competitors in the artificial intelligence race. Earlier this summer, Meta also recruited researchers from OpenAI. In one notable anecdote from these recruitment efforts, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg allegedly hand-delivered homemade soup to an OpenAI employee. In response, OpenAI’s chief research officer, Mark Chen, said he has since delivered his own soup to promising Meta recruits.