In light of recent allegations, Uber seems to be faced with a mass exodus of their top-level management officials. The latest addition to the list is the head of its artificial intelligence research arm, Gary Marcus, who has decided to step down from his role just four months into the service.
Marcus confirmed his departure through a Facebook post, announcing that he would now be taking up a much more relaxing role of a ‘special advisor’ towards Uber’s AI efforts. Further, he’ll also be moving back to New York to spend some time with his family. There is currently no update on what he plans to do next, where he aims to invest his time.
Uber had brought Marcus on board back in December when it acquired the AI-focused startup ‘Geometric Intelligence’ co-founded by him and Zoubin Ghahramani. The said acquisition saw his complete team of fifteen researchers moved to San Francisco to work from Uber’s newly set up artificial intelligence efforts called AI Labs. Gary Marcus, under the leadership of Uber CPO Jeff Holden, was then appointed to spearhead the said division working to improve the product’s tech and building self-driving cars.
Though Geometric Intelligence’s entire team is focusing its efforts towards enhancing Uber’s AI tech, it is presently unclear as to why Marcus is quitting from his position at the ride-hailing giant so early. But, he joins the growing number of top-talent departures for the company in the last couple of months.
Uber has parted ways with some significant and high-profile employees, with the biggest setbacks coming on the machine learning and AI fronts. Prior to Marcus, the ride-hailing giant saw one of its top engineering leaders of the self-driving division Raffi Krikorian step down. He was appointed as a senior director of engineering at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center. This was coupled with the loss of a handful of Carnegie Mellon researchers working on its self-driving tech.
This has been followed by the surprising resignation of Uber’s Vice President of Product and Growth Ed Baker. He’s most likely moved out of the company because his name was being mixed up with some major allegations Uber has found itself caught amid. Daniel Graf, the company’s Marketplace head is taking over Baker’s responsibilities until a more suitable replacement can be found. There are also other who’ve been removed from the company for indirectly being connected to these allegations.
