The News
The adage “hire for potential” has never been truer than in the AI age, when companies are building teams for technology and products that do not exist yet. In a recent hiring sweep, Meta poached Apple’s top AI researcher for robotics, Jian Zhang, adding to the ongoing AI talent exodus from the iPhone maker, Bloomberg reported. Zhang will work in Meta’s Robotics Studio, the Reality Labs department created in February focused on developing humanoids and other advanced robotics. The unit will attempt to compete with Tesla and Nvidia-backed Figure AI; Meta’s existing hardware is limited to smart glasses and virtual reality headsets.
The challenge facing big tech companies isn’t only to create the best AI but to envision through what device humans will most often use it. Phones don’t seem to be the long-term solution, pins flopped, and glasses haven’t compelled the masses yet. So, what makes a good product engineer in this new world? The question resonates with what employees in every other industry face. AI is threatening large swaths of the workforce, creating value around how workers think rather than their skillsets, which can be automated with AI. While a track record of launching innovative products is always beneficial, product hires’ currency isn’t in what they’ve done, but in what they imagine next.
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Room for Disagreement
Recruiters told Business Insider last year that while strong soft skills and knowledge on tech ethics are a bonus for AI job candidates, they must have deep technical know-how and coding skills. Being able to work in Python or JavaScript is necessary, they said, even as vibe coding becomes more commonplace.
Notable
- The future of devices won’t be one new technology, the Verge argues. It’s more likely to be an interconnected network of technologies, including earbuds and other wearables, where smartphones may remain central to the ecosystem.
- A Harvard Business Review study found soft skills — including communication, empathy, and conflict resolution — are increasingly valuable in the workplace as employees adapt to AI-assisted work.