Every time there's a news story about someone at a big company with the title "Director", headlines phrase it as if it's a much higher title than it actually is. Apple surely has many Director-level people working in ML.
I think the confusion for people outside of industry is between a director of the company (eg. board member) and a director-level employee.
When I was there, Apple had 1 director for about 50 engineers (though certain people like Jordan Hubbard were director just because). 12,000 engineers gives us 240 directors of engineering. I'd say given the breadth of the software and hardware needed at Apple, maybe five of these are in ML.
