Apple Loses AI Chief to Meta Amid Industry Shifts

Apple’s head of foundation models, Ruoming Pang, has left the company to join Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, marking a significant shift in the tech industry's AI landscape. Pang, who managed a team of approximately 100 engineers developing core language models for Apple Intelligence features, is the latest high-profile departure from Apple's AI division. His exit follows that of his top deputy, Tom Gunter, who left the previous month, raising concerns about Apple’s reliance on external partnerships like OpenAI.

Pang’s move to Meta comes amid the company’s aggressive hiring trend in the AI sector. Meta recently acquired a 49% stake in Scale AI for $14.3 billion, bringing the latter’s CEO onto its team to lead the Superintelligence Lab. This acquisition is regarded as Meta’s second-largest single investment after its $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014. Meta’s rapid hiring spree of talent from firms like OpenAI and Google has been met with criticism for inflating market rates through unusually large signing offers to secure top researchers.

While Meta continues to consolidate top AI talent, Apple appears to be losing ground. Pang’s departure comes just weeks after Apple announced its long-awaited generative features during its developer conference this year, many of which relied on partnerships with OpenAI. Internally, multiple Apple teams have reportedly voiced concerns about a lack of clear strategic direction and the company’s growing dependence on integrations rather than in-house AI breakthroughs.

Meta’s hiring strategy has been described as a textbook reverse acqui-hire, surgically extracting its competitors’ core intellectual capital to cement its future in the AI race. However, this approach also raises deeper questions about long-term sustainability. The aggressive recruitment of superstar talent may not ultimately cultivate the stable, innovative culture needed to win the marathon to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

Losing Pang also feeds into a broader perception problem Apple has yet to shake. In terms of generative AI, there is a widespread perception that Apple appears to be playing from behind. Even Siri, Apple’s flagship AI assistant, is seemingly looking like a big fumble. Apple’s AI development has seemingly created a vacuum that the market has filled with skepticism. While the departure of a single executive doesn’t cripple a program of Apple’s scale, it certainly doesn’t build confidence. For a company that has historically defined technology waves, losing top-tier AI talent to a direct competitor reinforces a narrative that they are struggling to change.