Daisy Watts 
Jan 15, 2024
Apple has decided to close down its department managing operations related to artificial intelligence (AI) in San Diego, putting the jobs of 121 team members at risk of termination.
Gadgets360, citing sources, reported that the Data Operations Annotations team has been informed that they were likely to relocate to Austin as the Cupertino-based company plans to merge them with the Texas portion of the same team.
On January 17, Apple told the employees that they have until the end of February to decide if they will relocate and if they decide against it they will be terminated on April 26.
It should be noted that the Data Operations Annotations team is responsible for improving Siri by listening to queries to the voice service and determining if it heard and handled questions accurately. This particular team also operates from China, India, Ireland, and Spain.
Read more: Google announces workforce reductions in assistant, hardware, engineering
The people said that the announcement was made by Christine DeFilippo, a top deputy to Apple AI chief John Giannandrea.
The relocation decision was confirmed by an Apple spokesperson, saying the company is bringing its “Data Operations Annotations teams in the US together at our campus in Austin, where a majority of the team is already based.”
The spokesperson further added that “everyone currently employed will have the opportunity to continue their role with Apple in Austin.”
Apple further said it's “deeply committed to San Diego,” where it has “grown significantly,” and that it is continuing to hire as Apple expands its engineering teams. In other countries where the affected team operates, Apple keeps all the employees in one office.
According to reports, the workers are unwilling to relocate to Austin. Moreover, Apple told employees that they could apply for other jobs.
For the San Diego staff, the move came as a surprise. The AI team had been working from an office that Apple is renting. But the company had told staff recently that they would be relocated to a new Apple campus in the area at the end of January.
Earlier this month, Apple distributed packing boxes to employees to prepare for a relocation within the city.
For the San Diego staff, the move came as a surprise. The AI team had been working from an office that Apple is renting, according to the people. But the company had told staff recently that they would be relocated to a new Apple campus in the area at the end of January. Earlier this month, Apple distributed packing boxes to employees to prepare for a relocation within the city.
The move has the potential to result in several dozen workers leaving the company. Apple, which had 161,000 employees as of September, has mostly managed to avoid layoffs since the pandemic — in contrast with most of its tech peers. It did, however, cut some corporate retail jobs last April, as well as recruiters.
Apple said the employees who are willing to relocate to Austin by the end of June will be able to keep their roles. The company is offering $7,000 (roughly Rs. 5,80,318) relocation stipends. Those who choose to leave Apple will see their roles eliminated and get four weeks of severance — plus an additional week for every year worked. They'll also get six months of health insurance.
