Initial participants in the new Apple Manufacturing Academy tell WIRED that the tech giant's surprising frankness and hands-on support are already benefiting their bottom lines. An instructor at the Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit demonstrates how an iPhone and optical inspection software can be used to photograph and automatically identify an issue with a part. About 10 Apple employees spent some of their valuable hours over recent months on a project that might seem unusual for the tech giant: customizing an open source AI tool for ImageTek, a small manufacturer in Springfield, Vermont whose lines of business include printing millions of labels for food packaging. The Apple engineers developed a computer vision system to automatically identify color errors, and on one run it picked up bacon labels with a far-too-pinkish beige before they got shipped, according to Marji Smith, ImageTek's president. She says the timely catch helped ImageTek from losing a crucial customer.

A senior director at Apple has quit his job in protest at the company demanding staff return to the office three days a week. Ian Goodfellow, the director of machine learning, is believed to be the most senior employee to resign so far as a result of the plan. On April 11, the company began mandating one day a week in the office - a requirement that rose to two days on May 2. By May 23, all staff had to be at their desks three days a week. A survey of Apple workers from April 13-19 found 67 percent saying they were dissatisfied with the return-to-office policy, Fortune reported. And Goodfellow, in his resignation note, said he would not do it.

A top artificial intelligence executive at Apple is leaving the company over its return-to-office policy, according to a report. The news comes as Apple orders all corporate employees to return to the office for three days per week -- a stricter policy than Big Tech competitors like Meta, Google and Amazon, which are allowing at least some employees to work remotely forever. Director of machine learning Ian Goodfellow announced his resignation last week, telling colleagues that CEO Tim Cook's push to get employees back into the office had driven him out. "I believe strongly that more flexibility would have been the best policy for my team," Goodfellow wrote in a goodbye note, according to Verge reporter Zoe Schiffer. Several Apple employees confirmed Goodfellow's departure on corporate gossip site Blind.

Apple said it is now, by default, opting customers out of a program that listens to audio snippets scraped up by its voice-assistant, Siri. The company announced the decision in a blog post this week and marks the most significant step since it decided to suspend the program earlier this summer. Apple has been identified as one of many companies that was harvesting audio snippets from users in an effort to improve the accuracy of its voice-assistant. Unbeknownst to most, those snippets were then reviewed by human contractors. 'As a result of our review, we realize we haven't been fully living up to our high ideals, and for that we apologize,' wrote Apple. According to the company, it will will resume its program later this fall with several major changes.

Apple, Amazon and Google have been dead-locked in a battle of the voice assistants for the past several years. But it's no secret that Amazon and Google have charged ahead with their respective services, Alexa and Assistant, while Apple's digital assistant Siri has lagged behind. Siri's troubled seven-year history is likely a result of poor management, slipshod decision making and an inconsistent vision at the company of what the product should be, according to a new report from the Information. At least a dozen former Apple employees spoke in detailed candor about how Siri was created and the drama that ensued among executives and engineers. Many people involved in creating Siri from the beginning cite Apple founder Steve Jobs' death as a tipping point in the product's failure.

It is a stunning scene – the sun setting over what Steve Jobs had called'the best office building in the world'. The latest flyover drone video of Apple Park has made its way to the web, which shows just how massive the spaceship has become just days before its first residents are expected to move in. The clip has captured the curved glass panels that are being installed around the 2.8 million-square-foot main building and the large courtyard area that will boast thousands of drought-resistant trees. It is a stunning scene – the sun setting over what Steve Jobs had called'the best office building in the world'. Duncan Sinfield, a YouTuber and independent drone pilot, shared the 4 minute and 41 second video to his channel this week, 9to5Mac reported.