Apple loses AI executive to Meta's hiring spree

Apple’s head of AI models, Ruoming Pang, is leaving the company to join Meta Platforms.

Pang, who led the Apple Foundation Models (AFM) team, is reportedly the latest addition to Meta’s new superintelligence division.

Pang joined Apple in 2021 from Alphabet and managed a team of about 100 engineers focused on large language models.

His departure follows discussions at Apple regarding the potential use of third-party models, such as those from OpenAI or Anthropic, to improve Siri.

His exit marks a significant change in Apple’s AI leadership and highlights the ongoing competition for AI talent in the industry.

Meta is actively recruiting top engineers, including recent hires from OpenAI and Anthropic.

The AFM team at Apple, now led by Zhifeng Chen, will undergo a structural reorganization with multiple managers overseeing engineers.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ AI talent wars have escalated to unprecedented compensation levels

Meta’s aggressive recruitment tactics now include packages worth tens of millions of dollars per year for top AI talent, as evidenced by Ruoming Pang’s lucrative offer1.

This marks a dramatic escalation from already high industry standards, with elite AI researchers reportedly earning between $10-20 million annually at top firms2.

The competition has intensified as Mark Zuckerberg personally leads Meta’s talent acquisition efforts, hosting potential hires at his homes and directly reaching out to candidates—a hands-on approach rarely seen at this executive level1.

Meta’s restructuring to focus on “superintelligence” has accelerated this trend, with the company committing tens of billions to AI infrastructure and talent acquisition this year alone1.

The poaching of talent across major companies follows a traceable pattern: Meta recently hired Alexandr Wang from Scale AI, Daniel Gross, and Nat Friedman, alongside multiple researchers from OpenAI and Anthropic—showing a systematic approach to talent acquisition1.