Apple is losing one of the key pillars of its ambitions in spatial computing to OpenAI. Indeed, Paul Mide, the Vice President overseeing the Vision Pro headset and the smart glasses coming from Apple, is leaving the tech giant.
Maid will leave Apple by next week to lead the fast-growing Devices division at OpenAI, according to a report by Bloomberg. His mission at OpenAI is to launch a new generation of AI-powered devices. Neither of the two companies has officially commented on this move.
Maid’s role is not limited to management; he is also one of the architects behind Apple’s next-generation wearable devices. He led the engineering of the Vision Pro devices for seven years, actively guiding the development of the next-screenless smart glasses project designed to compete with Meta next year. His departure leaves a major gap in Apple’s Vision product lineup, which will be led by his deputy, Fletcher Rothkopf.
This is not just a routine departure—it’s an extraordinary poaching of talent in OpenAI’s favor. Meed joins a group of defectors from Apple that includes design legends Jony Ive, Tang Tang, and Evans Hanby. Last year, OpenAI acquired the AI-backed smart device company founded by these three in a stunning $6.5 billion deal. By bringing Meed aboard, OpenAI isn’t just building a hardware team—it’s also rebuilding the golden design DNA of Apple’s lineup to launch the next generation of AI devices.
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