Apple plans to close down its San Diego AI team of 121 employees as part of a reorganization.

According to anonymous sources, Apple Inc. is set to close down its artificial intelligence operations team in San Diego, potentially putting many employees at risk of losing their jobs. The team, called Data Operations Annotations, was informed on Wednesday that they would be required to move to Austin and merge with the Texas division of the same team. The sources requested anonymity as the company has not officially announced these plans.

Apple told employees they have until the end of February to decide whether to relocate, according to the people. If they don’t, the workers will be fired on April 26.

The group, which also has offices in China, India, Ireland and Spain, is responsible for improving Siri by listening to queries coming into the voice service and determining whether it heard and processed the questions correctly. The closure of the San Diego group was announced by Christine DeFilippo, a top deputy to Apple AI chief John Giannandrea, the people said.

An Apple spokesperson confirmed the move, saying the company is consolidating its “Data Operations Annotations team in the United States at our campus in Austin, where the majority of the team is already located.” He added that “everyone currently employed will have the opportunity to continue their role at Apple in Austin.”

The company also said it is “deeply committed to San Diego,” where it has seen “significant growth,” and that it will continue to hire as Apple expands its engineering team. In other countries where the relevant team operates, Apple keeps all employees in one office.

The move came as a surprise to the San Diego staff. According to the people, the AI team had been working in Apple’s Rented Office. But the company had told staff recently that they would be moved to a new Apple campus in the area at the end of January. Earlier this month, Apple distributed packing boxes to employees in preparation for a move within the city.

Instead, they now have to move to Texas. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that most of the affected employees have indicated they are not willing to move to Austin. Apple told its employees they could apply for other jobs, but some don’t think they’re qualified for many roles because they don’t have an engineering background, the people said.

San Diego employees focused on using Siri in Hebrew, English, and several dialects of Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and French.

The move could lead to several dozen employees leaving the company. Apple, which had 161,000 employees in September, has largely managed to avoid layoffs since the pandemic — unlike most of its tech peers. However, it cut some of the company’s retail jobs last April as well as recruiters.

Employees who are ready to move to Austin by the end of June will be able to keep their roles, Apple said. The company offers $7,000 in relocation bonuses. Those who decide to leave Apple will see their roles eliminated and receive four weeks’ notice — plus one week for each year of service. They also get six months of health insurance.

The team has considerable history within Apple. Years ago, the team consisted mostly of contractors who listened to Siri queries to ensure their accuracy. This policy raised privacy concerns and was made optional for customers in 2019. Contractors were fired and replaced with full-time employees.

A small number of the group’s employees have begun helping Apple transition to AI products based on large language models. These employees now review potential queries for Siri and select a handful of responses. They must then justify their decision. Apple plans to announce its LLM plan in June, Bloomberg News reports.