AI Expert Arrives At Apple’s Special Projects Group

Amid Apple’s efforts to bolster its hardware and software with artificial intelligence (AI), an expert in the field has joined the tech company. Ian Goodfellow is now a director of machine learning in Apple’s Special Projects Group, CNBC reported.

Goodfellow is behind an AI approach called generative adversarial networks (GANs), in which a generative network and discriminative network help produce creative outputs through video and audio as well as text. GAN systems are also said to have been used for the creation of “deepfake” content.

After earning his Ph.D. from the University of Montreal, Goodfellow worked at Google as well as OpenAI. While at Google, he conducted work involving security and GANs in an area called adversarial attacks. It was reported that people working on AI at Apple have done research in the past that was influenced by GAN.

According to CNBC, Goodfellow recently made an update to his LinkedIn profile to indicate his move from Google to Apple. A spokesperson for Google acknowledged his departure, while neither Apple nor Goodfellow offered a comment.

The news comes as it was recently reported that Apple had acquired machine learning startup Laserlike to bolster its AI efforts. Although the acquisition was discovered recently, it closed late last year. At the same time, it was said the staff of Laserlike joined Apple’s Siri team and now reports to Senior VP John Giannandrea.

Laserlike tapped into machine learning to gather data from around the internet and deliver results to an app. The results could be shared via an “inbox” within the app and searched through like news. The technology could also recommend sites based on a user’s browsing habits.