Ian Goodfellow is a name many investors aren't familiar with, but he's making headlines after quitting Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL to join Apple Inc. AAPL.
What Happened
Goodfellow was one of Google's leading artificial intelligence experts and credited for being the "father" of general adversarial networks (GANs), CNBC reports. While working at Google, Apple employees did research that was based on his GAN technology expertise.
Google confirmed with CNBC Goodfellow left the company and his LinkedIn profile says he's now a director of machine learning at Apple's special projects group.
Experts moving around tech companies isn't uncommon and Apple has seen its share of employees leave the company. Tesla Motors Inc TSLA poached Apple's alloy expert Charles Kuehmann and Apple's chip architect Jim Keller in 2016.
Why It's Important
Apple continues to focus on AI technology to make its software and hardware more attractive, says CNBC. Last year the company hired John Giannandrea, the former head of AI and search at Google, to oversee Apple's AI strategy.
According to The Verge, Goodfellow's expertise is "influential and shaped the entire field of AI." He is also the kind of employee that any company would want on their AI team.
Goodfellow's expertise could be used to improve Apple's "subpar" Siri assistance, The Verge says.
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