Currently, Apple does not have the best AI on the market, in fact, we could say that, within large companies, it is currently the worst. However, they are working hard to change that, with the arrival of iOS 26.4 in a few months, and the next version of iOS 27.
This could go well, if it weren't for the fact that companies like OpenAIthey are “stealing” engineers in this field from Apple, getting them to leave Tim Cook's company, to theirs, and not only getting the best, but also information from the competition.
OpenAI takes Apple workers
OpenAI is hiring engineers and designers who worked at Apple at an intense pace, and that is ringing alarm bells in Cupertino. According to reports, in the last month more than 40 people (including directors, managers and specialists) They left Apple to join OpenAI. It's not just programmers: they come from hardware, cameras, silicon, device testing, industrial design, manufacturing, audio, smart watches and even the team behind Vision Pro.
The wave of signings became evident after OpenAI bought Jony Ive's company, and various publications noted that former members of Apple's design team met with Ive there. In addition, names with experience at Apple (human interface entity, manufacturing design and leadership in the Apple Watch) would also have jumped to OpenAI. All of this fuels the sense that OpenAI doesn't just want AI software: it's looking to build its own hardware and is bringing in talent with hands-on design and manufacturing experience.
For Apple, the situation is delicate because it adds to a talent drain which was already growing towards companies focused on artificial intelligence. Losing hardware experts is no small feat: it can make it harder to keep up with the pace of innovation in products like the iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, or Vision Pro. Meanwhile, OpenAI is gaining valuable design and manufacturing experience at high speed, which could accelerate its plans to create its own devices and give it capabilities that we previously only saw in companies with a long history in hardware.
Bottom line: OpenAI is on a “streak” hiring former Apple engineers en masse, intensifying competition for talent between tech giants and opens the door for OpenAI to develop hardware with levels of expertise previously associated primarily with Apple. It remains to be seen how Apple will respond: if it retains talent, changes its strategy or accelerates its own projects so as not to be left behind in the race for AI applied to hardware.
And you, what do you think? Do you think Apple is really concerned about this, or does it have too many workers for a few to delay its launches? The truth is that competition is good for users, and if this happens in the middle of the wave of AI, it could lead us to accelerate devices, intelligence, etc., so we will see what happens, and who is most harmed by all this. Leave us a comment with your opinion, and if you think Apple will lose the battle because of it.
