chris lattner portraitChris Lattner, once responsible for leading the teams behind Xcode and Swift, made headlines earlier this year when he left Apple to work at Tesla.

At the time, Lattner told MacRumors the opportunity to work on Tesla's self-driving project with the Tesla Autopilot team was "irresistible." Lattner lasted just six months at Tesla, however, and left the company in June.

"Chris just wasn't the right fit for Tesla and we've decided to make a change," the company told The Wall Street Journal after Lattner exited. Lattner went on to announce on Twitter that he was seeking companies interested in a "seasoned engineering leader," which has apparently led to a new role at Google.

Lattner today announced that he has joined the Google Brain team to work on artificial intelligence. Google Brain is Google's research unit, and Lattner is expected to work on TensorFlow, Google's open-source machine learning software.

Tags: Google, Swift

Top Rated Comments

adamjackson Avatar
103 months ago
A company-jumper. The grass is always greener on the other side. Until he finds out it isn't (lasted barely 6 months at Tesla).
I know a lot of Silicon Valley 'company-jumpers' and Chris is not one of them. He was at Apple from 2005 to 2017. Most people I know are at a new startup every 6-12 months. Just because after 12 years at Apple, he was not a good fit with Teslas (ethos, culture, programming, management, whatever it was) and is now at Google doesn't make him a company jumper.

Now, 5 years from now, if he's worked at 10 different companies, your opinion may be valid.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
now i see it Avatar
103 months ago
Lots of companies look all nice & yummy from the outside. Then when you finally do get hired, you soon find out about all the petty infighting & incompetent hostile managers. Been there. Done that. Jumping companies is very risky cuz you never know what snake pit you'll end up in. Could very well be worse than the hell-hole you're already in.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zirel Avatar
103 months ago
He did a very wrong move the moment he stepped out of Apple’s door.

Now he’s working on better ways to data mine people’s emails and photos, and serve more annoying ads on YouTube.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Westside guy Avatar
103 months ago
A company-jumper. The grass is always greener on the other side. Until he finds out it isn't (lasted barely 6 months at Tesla).
Here's his full employment history since leaving the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

2005 - January 2017: Apple
January 2017 - June 2017: Tesla
Hired August 2017 by Google

Yeah, that doesn't really fit the "company jumper" profile. It looks like he just didn't fit well at Tesla.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Asarien Avatar
103 months ago
Don't know why he had to even bother posting anything on Twitter when Google gladly takes any of Apple's former employees.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Solomani Avatar
103 months ago
A company-jumper. The grass is always greener on the other side. Until he finds out it isn't (lasted barely 6 months at Tesla).
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...