Meta Hires Longtime Apple Designer Alan Dye to Lead New Creative Studio

Dye will work with several high-profile design leaders, Zuckerberg said, including Billy Sorrentino, also formerly of Apple.

Evgenia Filimianova

Published: 12/4/2025, 3:48:15 PM EST

Meta Hires Longtime Apple Designer Alan Dye to Lead New Creative Studio — Alan Dye attends GQ Men of the Year in Los Angeles, Calif., on Nov. 13, 2025. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for GQ)

Meta has hired Alan Dye, the veteran head of human interface design at Apple, a spokesperson for Apple confirmed on Dec. 3. Dye’s departure from Apple comes the same week the company disclosed another major leadership exit.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Dec. 3 that Dye will lead a new creative studio inside Reality Labs, the company’s hardware and AR/VR division.

In announcing the move, Zuckerberg said Meta is elevating design as it develops AI-integrated devices such as smart glasses. He said the new studio will merge design, fashion and technology “to define the next generation of our products and experiences,” adding that Meta aims to treat intelligence as “a new design material.”

According to Zuckerberg, the new studio will assemble a team of designers and creative leaders with a range of skills and “deep experience building iconic products.”

Dye will work with several high-profile design leaders, Zuckerberg said, including Billy Sorrentino, also formerly of Apple; Joshua To, who has directed user interface design within Reality Labs; industrial design head Pete Bristol; and metaverse design and art teams overseen by Jason Rubin.

Zuckerberg added that Meta sees a shift to AI glasses and related devices as ushering in a new era of personal computing.

He said the company’s priority is ensuring those devices feel “natural” and “centered around people,” promising that every interaction would be crafted to be intuitive and human-focused.

Dye shared a quote from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs on his Instagram story on Dec. 3, which appeared to hint at his own career transition.

The quote read: “I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.”

Apple Departures

Dye’s exit follows Apple’s announcement on Dec. 1 that John Giannandrea, senior vice president for Machine Learning and AI Strategy, would step down and retire in 2026 after serving as an adviser during the transition.

Apple said renowned AI researcher Amar Subramanya has joined the company as vice president of AI and will report to Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering. Subramanya will lead work on Apple Foundation Models, machine learning research, and the company’s AI safety and evaluation efforts.

Apple Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy John Giannandrea at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in Cupertino, Calif., on June 10, 2024. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) — Apple Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy John Giannandrea at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in Cupertino, Calif., on June 10, 2024. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The company said the remaining parts of Giannandrea’s organization will be realigned under operations chief Sabih Khan and services head Eddy Cue to consolidate teams working on related technologies.

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, thanked Giannandrea for his leadership since joining the company in 2018.

Cook said the executive helped build a “world-class” AI and machine learning group responsible for core technologies used across Apple’s devices and services.

Cook added that Subramanya’s AI expertise will be “important to Apple’s ongoing innovation,” highlighting Federighi’s expanded oversight as Apple prepares to roll out a more personalized version of Siri next year.

From The Epoch Times