Apple Vision Pro exec is reportedly leaving for OpenAI

Paul Meade, the Apple vice president responsible for the Vision Pro headset, is leaving the company to join OpenAI’s hardware team. according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

Meade also reportedly led the development of the AI-powered smart glasses that Apple plans to launch next year. The expensive Vision Pro wasn’t a hit, but Apple hopes more affordable smart glasses will help it compete with Meta wearables.

Gurman sees these departures as a byproduct of the impending elevation of John Ternus to CEO of Apple, and of Ternus’ decision to shake up the hardware engineering team, which left some of the company’s vice presidents feeling like they had been demoted.

OpenAI, meanwhile, is already working with Apple’s former chief designer Jony Ive on an AI device that CEO Sam Altman claims will be more peaceful and calming than an iPhone, although reports last fall suggested the company was struggling to get the details right.

TechCrunch has reached out to Apple and OpenAI for comment.