Apple has distinguished another Google searcher on AI

As part of the ongoing battle between tech companies to recruit the best talent in artificial intelligence, Apple has recruited one of the largest researchers on artificial intelligence Google.

Ian Goodfellow is one of the most prominent names in artificial intelligence. He previously worked for Google and the OpenAI lab, founded by Elon Musk. But, as reported first by CNBCGoodfellow recently updated his LinkedIn profile to indicate that he was now working at Apple as Director of Machine Learning within the company's Special Projects Group.

This is not the first time Apple has been using Google as an artificial intelligence incubator. Last April, iPhonemaker attracted former boss of Goodfellow, Google's head of artificial intelligence, John Giannandrea.

Artificial intelligence is a key technology for high-tech companies and finding a researcher capable of advancing advanced products is a daunting challenge. Google is generally considered the world's leading manufacturer of AI, but Apple also uses this technology in all its products, from facial recognition to photography. The company is also working on the development of autonomous vehicle systems, a project that certainly requires leading AI engineers.

At 34, Goodfellow is a young researcher in very influential artificial intelligence. But he is well known for his work inventing a type of artificial intelligence system known as the Generative Accidental Network or GAN.

GANs are two – part networks consisting of both a generator and a discriminator. The generator is formed on a dataset, and then tries to replicate it. He shows his work to the discriminator who tries to distinguish between the learning dataset and the new result. If that makes a difference, it returns the builder to the drawing board to try again.

It sounds abstract, but the GANs have turned out to be wonderfully productive little systems. They are particularly good at generating fake photos, videos, audio and text. These portraits of imaginary beings generated by AI? It was GAN. This software that turns your doodles into photorealistic paintings? GANs again.

None of this necessarily suggests that Apple has a particular interest in creating fake portraits or landscapes, but that shows that Goodfellow's work has had an influence and shaped the entire field of AI. He is definitely the kind of person you would like on your team. And who knows, maybe the GANs will finally be able to improve Apple's sub-AI assistant, Siri.