Twitter Cortex team loses some AI researchers

At least five members of Twitter’s Cortex artificial intelligence group have left this month, at a time when companies are rushing to accumulate AI talent.

Earlier today, Kevin Swersky tweeted out a photo of his laptop and Twitter badge, indicating his departure.

https://twitter.com/kswersk/status/801547509441167360

Two days earlier, Jasper Snoek and Alex Wiltschko had done the same thing.

https://twitter.com/awiltsch/status/800799774773362688/

https://twitter.com/latentjasper/status/800824663890759680

On Monday, Google announced that a key member of the Twitter Cortex team, Hugo Larochelle, had been selected to head up the company’s new artificial intelligence and deep learning division in Montreal. Larochelle shared his badge and MacBook photo on November 11.

https://twitter.com/hugo_larochelle/status/797182536174673920

And Ryan Adams did that, too, on the same day.

https://twitter.com/ryan_p_adams/status/797180807102263296?lang=en

All five joined Twitter following the social networking company’s acquisition of startup Whetlab in 2015.

More recently, Twitter acquired AI startup Magic Pony.

Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft have all been hiring people from other technology companies and universities to bolster their AI capabilities.

Twitter declined to comment.

Update on December 21: Minh Tran, an “AI Curator” at Twitter Cortex, has also left, according to a tweet.