Apple Vision Pro Executive Leaves Company to Join OpenAI's Hardware Team

Paul Meade, the Apple vice president responsible for the Vision Pro headset, is departing the company to join OpenAI's hardware team, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, as reported by TechCrunch.

Meade also reportedly led the development of AI-powered smart glasses that Apple plans to launch next year. The costly Vision Pro was not a commercial success, but Apple is banking on more affordable smart glasses to compete with wearable devices from Meta.

Gurman frames this departure as a consequence of John Ternus' imminent promotion to Apple CEO and his decision to restructure the hardware engineering team. The reshuffle left some vice presidents feeling as though they had been demoted.

Meanwhile, OpenAI is already collaborating with Apple's former chief design officer Jony Ive on an AI device that CEO Sam Altman has claimed will be more peaceful and calm than an iPhone. However, reports last fall suggested the company was struggling to get the details right.

TechCrunch has reached out to Apple and OpenAI for comment.