Apple has reportedly lost another top AI researcher to Meta, making it the fourth such departure in just one month. These repeated exits are likely to put pressure on Apple’s efforts to keep up in the competitive AI race. According to Bloomberg, the latest to leave is Bowen Zhang, a key multimodal AI researcher at Apple. Zhang is joining Meta’s recently formed superintelligence team.
Zhang was part of the Apple foundation models group (AFM). This group is responsible for developing the core technology behind the tech giant’s AI platform. Before Zhang, three other researchers from the same team also left Apple for Meta. This includes Ruoming Pang, who was leading the AFM team and was reportedly offered a $200 million compensation package. The other two were Tom Gunter and Mark Lee.
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These exits have shaken the AFM team, which plays an important role in Apple’s overall AI strategy. With Pang gone, the team’s roadmap has become unclear, and more engineers are said to be actively searching for jobs elsewhere. Another member, Floris Weers, recently left for a startup.
Apple is said to be exploring the use of third-party AI models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude for a new version of Siri. At the same time, the company is also working on a competing version based on new AFM models, according to the report. This has caused uncertainty within the team.
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With Meta aggressively hiring and offering huge salaries, and Apple struggling to retain its AI talent, the future of Apple’s in-house AI team is becoming more uncertain.
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