Apple design veteran Alan Dye moves to Meta to lead new Reality Labs Creative Studio

Alan Dye, the design executive who led Apple's user interface (UI) team for the past decade, is leaving the company to take on a significant leadership role at Meta.

This is considered a major hire for Meta as it intensifies its focus on consumer devices like smart glasses and virtual reality (VR) headsets, and accelerates its efforts in the AI sector.

At Meta, Dye will focus on improving AI features within these devices and will report directly to Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth.

Shortly after the news of Dye's departure broke, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the creation of a new creative studio within Reality Labs that will be led by Dye. Zuckerberg stated that the studio will "bring together design, fashion, and technology to define the next generation of our products and experiences."

Dye will be joined in the studio by other key design figures, including former Apple designer Billy Sorrentino, Joshua To, Meta's industrial design team led by Pete Bristol, and its metaverse design and art teams led by Jason Rubin.

Zuckerberg emphasized the strategic importance of design in the AI era: "Our idea is to treat intelligence as a new design material and imagine what becomes possible when it is abundant, capable, and human-centered."

Dye's move is part of a larger trend of Meta aggressively recruiting top talent from its competitors to compete in the AI race. This summer, Meta also poached researchers from OpenAI, with reports even suggesting CEO Mark Zuckerberg engaged in a personal recruitment push, including delivering homemade soup to a promising OpenAI employee.

At Apple, Dye will be replaced by Steve Lemay, whom CEO Tim Cook described as having played "a key role in the design of every major Apple interface since 1999."