Transcript
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Welcome to the Tech we write Home for Thursday, December 4th 4th, 2025 I'm Brian McCullough today on the one hand, Meta poached Apple's design head in a major coup to make hardware and software for AI. But there are also signs Zuck is souring on the Metaverse. And could they even abandon the Metaverse entirely? Is Amazon about to abandon your mailman and why Dario Amodai is playing a blinder right now. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech.
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Boy, this AI stuff really has been shaking things up in the boardrooms of the big tech companies of late. Apple has confirmed that VP of Human Interface Design Alan Dye is leaving the company to join Meta. This is a pretty major coup. Dye has headed Apple's user interface design team since 2015. Tim Cook says Apple UI designer Stephen Lemay will replace Dai, quoting Mark Gurman in Bloomberg. The move represents a seismic shift in Silicon Valley and shows that Meta is committed to becoming a brand name maker of hardware devices. For Apple, the departure extends an exodus of talent suffered by the design team since the exit of visionary executive Jony I've In 2019, Dye had taken on a more significant role at Apple after I've left, helping define how the company's latest operating systems, apps and devices look and feel the executive informed Apple this week that he decided to leave, though top management had already been bracing for his departure, the people said. With the die higher, Meta is creating a new design studio and putting him in charge of design for hardware, software and AI integration for its interfaces. He will be reporting to Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, who oversees Reality Labs. That group is tasked with developing wearable devices such as smart glasses and virtual reality headsets. Dai's major focus will be revamping Meta's consumer devices with artificial intelligence features. He will serve as chief design officer for the group starting December 31st. Dye most recently oversaw the interface of the Vision Pro headset and a sweeping redesign of Apple's operating systems. He was also central to designing the company's apps, the Apple Watch and the iPhone X. His team has been helping develop a slate of new smart home devices at well, Bloomberg News has reported. Dai's exit is a major loss for Apple, which is already coping with some critical departures in recent weeks. Jeff Williams, the company's longtime chief operating officer, retired last month, and artificial intelligence head John Giannandrea just announced his departure this week following years of struggles to catch up in AI last fall. Apple's former hardware chief Dan Riccio also retired. The turnover is expected to continue, with many of the remaining top leaders, including Tim Cook, nearing typical retirement ages. Johnny Shrugi, Apple's silicon chief, and Lisa Jackson, Apple's head of government environment initiatives, have both been evaluating their futures at the company, Bloomberg has reported. End quote. But again, let me underline, because on threads, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that they were creating a new creative studio in Meta's Reality Labs, which will be led by Dai, who will be joined by senior director of Apple design team Billy Sorrentino. So this is actually the news of two huge departures now related to that. Sources are also telling Bloomberg that Meta plans deep budget cuts to its metaverse efforts in 2026, potentially as high as 30% and most likely will lead to layoffs as early as January. The proposed Metaverse cuts are part of the company's annual budget planning for 2026, which included a series of meetings at Mark Zuckerberg's compound in Hawaii last month, the people said. Zuckerberg has asked Meta executives to look for 10% across the board, which has been the standard request during similar budget cycles the past few years, they added. The Metaverse group was asked to cut deeper this year given that Meta has not seen the level of industry wide competition over the technology that it once expected, they said the majority of the proposed cuts are likely to hit Meta's virtual reality group, which makes up the bulk of the Metaverse related spend. The people said cuts would also target Horizon Worlds. The entire Metaverse effort has drawn scrutiny from investors who have seen it as a drain on resources, as well as from watchdogs who have alleged that children's privacy and safety have been compromised in the virtual worlds. Shares of Meta jumped as much as 5.7% after markets opened in New York, their biggest intraday gain since July 31st. Meta's vision for the metaverse has not taken off, despite Zuckerberg's conviction, which he still has, that people will one day work and play in virtual worlds in 2021, as Facebook was facing fallout for user safety and privacy issues, Zuckerber rebranded the whole company around the idea of the Metaverse and started spending heavily on the vision. The Metaverse group sits within Reality Labs, the Meta division focused on long term bets like VR headsets and AR glasses. That group has lost more than $70 billion since the start of 2021. Zuckerberg has largely stopped mentioning the Metaverse in public and on company earnings calls and is instead focused on developing the large AI models that underpin AI chatbots and other generative AI products, as well as the hardware products that are more linked to those experiences, like Meta's Ray Ban display glasses. Some analysts and investors have long advocated that Zuckerberg rid himself of Reality Labs products that continue to drain resources without providing much revenue in return. In April, Mike Prolux, a vice president at research and advisory firm Forrester, predicted that Meta would shutter its Metaverse projects like Horizon Worlds before the end of the year. End quote.