The noted iPhone hacker, George Hotz has joined Twitter for a 12-week internship under Elon Musk’s leadership, focusing to fix the platform’s search feature. He will work on removing the prompt that prevents users from browsing the service on the web without logging in. Reportedly, Hotz once turned down a job at Tesla working on its driver-assistance technology.
A few days ago, following hundreds of resignations at Twitter, Hotz tweeted out his support of Musk’s offer to Twitter employees saying, “This is the attitude that builds incredible things. Let all the people who don’t desire greatness leave.” He would be willing to do an internship at the company. Musk soon tweeted in response, “Sure, let’s talk.”
Hotz is well-known for developing iOS jailbreaks and reverses engineering the PlayStation 3. He founded Comma.ai, whose driver assistance system startup aims to bring Tesla Autopilot–like functionality to other cars, after getting into a fight with Musk. As per a Bloomberg report in 2015, the billionaire allegedly tried to hire Hotz at Tesla but “kept changing the terms”. Currently, Comma.ai builds driver assistance technology that can be retrofitted into existing cars. It sells a $1,999 driver assistance system developer kit that is compatible with more than 200 vehicles.
George Hotz recently departed from his advanced driver assistance company Comma.ai late last month. In a note announcing his departure, he said suggested that Comma.ai requires a new style of leader as it attempts to scale up from a startup into a sustainable consumer-focused business. However, he quickly announced a new company developing software for AI chips.
