Apple has hired Nvidia’s director of deep learning, Jonathan Cohen, Re/code reported today. As is its wont, Apple declined to comment but news of Cohen’s hiring has since been officially confirmed via his LinkedIn profile, in which he states that he’s been with Apple since earlier this month.
The publication speculates that Cohen might be joining Apple’s autonomous car project in unknown capacity. As you know, Apple is rumored to be developing an electric or autonomous car, dubbed Project Titan.
Nvidia has been developing various technologies and chips for autonomous vehicles, based on its GPU know-how. During his tenure with Nvidia, he’s run the company’s deep learning unit since 2008.
For those wondering, deep learning is a branch of artificial intelligence that strives to train computers to process patterns in large reams of visual data. Apple, too, uses deep learning algorithms for Siri, Maps and voice recognition so it’s entirely possible that Cohen’s work for the Cupertino giant will be focused on these services rather than the rumored car project.
“Lately, Nvidia has used the technique for cars,” Re/code explains, adding the graphics giant sells its GPUs to carmakers which use them to power cameras and radar that enable vehicles to drive autonomously.
“This is a big hire for Apple,” Chris Nicholson, co-founder of deep learning startup Skymind.io, told the publication. “Nvidia’s GPUs are being used to power auto-pilot systems in cars, so the implications are pretty clear.”
Source: Re/code