Meta Platforms Hires Apple AI Chief Ruoming Pang in High-Stakes Talent Battle

Meta Platforms has hired Ruoming Pang, a top AI leader from Apple, to join its Superintelligence Labs unit. Pang's recruitment came with a tens of millions of dollars compensation package. Meta's efforts to assemble a world-class AI team follow a $14 billion investment in Scale AI and the addition of notable tech leaders. Apple has reorganized its AI leadership and is exploring third-party model integration for Siri. Analysts view Meta's aggressive AI investments as justified, given its $1.81 trillion market cap.

Meta Platforms (META) has strengthened its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities by recruiting Ruoming Pang, a top AI executive from Apple (AAPL), to join its Superintelligence Labs unit. The move comes with a significant compensation package, reflecting Meta’s commitment to leading foundational AI research [1].

Pang, who led Apple’s foundational AI models team, has been pivotal in developing key AI features like Genmoji and Priority Notifications. His departure signals Apple’s ongoing challenge in retaining top AI talent while Meta accelerates its recruitment efforts [2].

Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, led by Alexandr Wang, aims to develop advanced AI systems with the goal of achieving artificial superintelligence. The division has seen a series of high-profile hires, including Yuanzhi Li from OpenAI and Anton Bakhtin from Anthropic [2]. This aggressive recruitment strategy underscores Meta’s ambition to close the gap with competitors and push the boundaries of AI capabilities.

Apple, meanwhile, is reorganizing its AI leadership and exploring the integration of third-party AI models into its voice assistant Siri. The company has been facing technical delays and internal debates over its AI strategy, with the launch of its Apple Intelligence features experiencing setbacks [3].

Analysts view Meta’s aggressive AI investments as justified, given its $1.81 trillion market cap. The company’s ongoing recruitment surge is likely to further intensify the competition for experienced AI leaders, influencing compensation trends and research directions across the sector [4].

References:
[1] https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/apples-top-ai-executive-ruoming-201405552.html
[2] https://mlq.ai/news/apples-top-ai-executive-ruoming-pang-departs-for-metas-superintelligence-team/
[3] https://www.techcentral.ie/apple-is-considering-integrating-ai-models-from-other-companies-into-siri/
[4] https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/prediction-artificial-intelligence-ai-stock-could-be-surprise-winner-2025-0