Meta Platforms has hired two AI researchers, Mark Lee and Tom Gunter, from Apple.

This follows the recent recruitment of Ruoming Pang, the former head of Apple’s large language models team.

Lee has already started at Meta, while Gunter is expected to join soon.

All three previously worked together at Apple, where Pang led the Apple Foundation Models (AFM) team.

This move underscores the fierce competition for AI talent among tech giants.

Meta reportedly offered Pang over US$200 million in compensation and has made lucrative offers to others.

In response, Apple has begun giving raises to retain its roughly 100-member AI team.

Meta and Apple have not commented on the matter.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ The unprecedented economics of AI talent is creating a new compensation class

Meta’s $200+ million compensation package for Apple’s AI leader Ruoming Pang represents a fundamental shift in tech talent valuation that extends beyond traditional executive pay scales 1.

This extreme compensation isn’t isolated, as Meta is reportedly offering packages exceeding $100 million to multiple AI researchers, creating a new tier of technology compensation previously unseen even in Silicon Valley 2.

The economics reflect a severe talent shortage in artificial intelligence, with only approximately 22,000 PhD-educated researchers globally working in AI and just 5,000 recognized for significant research contributions 3.

This talent war is reshaping corporate budgets, with Meta establishing a dedicated Superintelligence Lab and investing heavily in computing infrastructure specifically to attract and support these high-value hires 4.

The compensation packages typically combine base salary, performance bonuses, restricted stock units, and extended multi-year contracts designed to prevent further poaching, demonstrating how companies are redesigning compensation structures for this specialized talent pool 5.

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