Apple Expands Its Machine Learning Hub in Downtown Seattle

Apple has expanded its office space at Two Union Square, a 56-story office tower in Downtown Seattle, according to GeekWire.

two union square apple
The report claims Apple will soon occupy five floors inside the skyscraper, up from a floor-and-a-half of space it originally leased, based on permits filed with the city and the publication's own visits to the building.

The expansion gives Apple more than 70,000 square feet of space, enough for potentially close to 500 people, the report adds.

Last year, Apple confirmed that its Seattle engineering hub is focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning, technologies that power the likes of Siri and advanced facial recognition on the iPhone X.

Apple's jobs website lists 19 open positions in its Seattle office in a variety of fields, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, smart home automation, cloud computing, and natural language processing.

Apple's senior director of artificial intelligence and machine learning Carlos Guestrin back in February 2017:

We're trying to find the best people who are excited about AI and machine learning — excited about research and thinking long term but also bringing those ideas into products that impact and delight our customers. The bar is high, but we're going to be hiring as quickly as we can find people that meet our high bar, which is exciting.

Seattle has become a hotbed for technology companies because of its talent pool and lower cost of living compared with the San Francisco area, with Amazon, Facebook, and Google among the tech giants with offices in the region.

Last year, Apple became a member of the Partnership on AI, a non-profit organization established "to study and formulate best practices, to advance the public's understanding of AI, and to serve as an open platform for discussion and engagement about AI and its influences on people and society."

Apple recently hired John Giannandrea, the former head of Google's search and artificial intelligence division. Apple's Machine Learning Journal documents the company's efforts in the artificial intelligence area.

Top Rated Comments

Lounge vibes 05 Avatar
71 months ago
Please, please let WWDC focus on some huge Siri improvements. Thats all I ask. Oh, and a dark mode
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Andres Cantu Avatar
71 months ago
Apple finally seemed to understand that Siri needs to get smarter with all these recent news we’ve been reading.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lobbyist Avatar
71 months ago
Rumor has it the half floor had a portal into John Malkovich's head.


The report claims Apple will soon occupy five floors inside the skyscraper, up from a floor-and-a-half of space it originally leased ('https://www.macrumors.com/2015/07/20/apple-two-union-square-seattle-lease/'), based on permits filed with the city and the publication's own visits to the building.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A MacBook lover Avatar
71 months ago
Seattle, lower cost of living? Please.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zwhaler Avatar
71 months ago
The other day I asked Siri: "What is the divorce rate for couples married between 18 and 25". I KID YOU NOT... it told me the answer is 43. The screen showed: "CALCULATOR: 18+25=43".

In case you're wondering, I ended up checking Google and the answer is about 60%.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kabeyun Avatar
71 months ago
Has it been confirmed that Apple’s AI poach from Google will have responsibility for Siri? I hope so but didn’t see it confirmed anywhere.
Natch. Giannandrea is in charge of Apple’s machine learning and artificial intelligence strategy. Siri is the front end of that.
[doublepost=1523978285][/doublepost]
The other day I asked Siri: "What is the divorce rate for couples who got married between 18 and 25". I KID YOU NOT... it told me the answer is 43. The screen showed: "CALCULATOR: 18+25=43".

In case you're wondering, I ended up checking Google and the answer is about 60%.
We feel your pain. Here’s a screenshot from my photo album, “Siri's Greatest Hits”:

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 16 Mock Header With Dynamic Island

Skipping the iPhone 15 Pro? Here's What's Rumored for iPhone 16 Pro

Friday September 22, 2023 9:29 am PDT by
Are you skipping the iPhone 15 Pro and waiting another year to upgrade? If so, we already have some iPhone 16 Pro rumors for you. Below, we recap new features rumored for the iPhone 16 Pro models so far:Larger displays: The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped with larger 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays, respectively, according to Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain...
Apple WWDC23 macOS Sonoma hero

macOS Sonoma Launching This Week With These New Features

Sunday September 24, 2023 12:45 pm PDT by
Apple previously announced that macOS Sonoma will be released this Tuesday, September 26. The free software update includes many new features and changes for the Mac, including the five that we have highlighted below. In addition to these five features, we have shared the full release notes for macOS Sonoma below for a complete overview of everything new. Desktop Widgets macOS Sonoma...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 double tap gesture 230912

watchOS 10.1 to Enable Apple Watch's New 'Double Tap' Gesture

Thursday September 21, 2023 12:52 pm PDT by
The new Double Tap gesture for the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 will be enabled starting with watchOS 10.1, according to Marques Brownlee, host of the popular tech-focused YouTube channel MKBHD. The first beta of watchOS 10.1 will likely be available by next week, and Apple announced that the software update will be released next month. Brownlee shared his impressions...