Apple's dismissal of 200 self-driving car employees points to a shift in its AI strategy

It's not often you hear about layoffs at Apple. So it came as a surprise Wednesday when CNBC learned that Apple was removing 200 employees from its self-driving car unit. Apple confirmed the staffing change, but reading between the lines of a spokesperson's statement, it sounds like the move is the latest in the company's broader goal to improve its artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities as it faces increased competition from rivals Google and Amazon. "As the team focuses their work on several key areas for 2019, some groups are being moved to projects in other parts of the company, where they will support machine learning and other initiatives, across all of Apple," the company spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC Wednesday. Self-driving car technology may still be an important initiative at Apple. But reading between the lines, it looks like it's taking a back seat a Apple beefs up its general AI staff.