Meta Hires Apple AI Chief In Major Blow To iPhone Maker’s AI Ambitions

Apple’s top AI executive, Ruoming Pang, is leaving for Meta, marking a major blow to the iPhone maker’s foundation models team, Bloomberg reported. Pang oversaw the group behind Apple’s large language models and will join Meta’s new superintelligence division. Meta plans to spend tens of billions of dollars this year on AI efforts, primarily investing in infrastructure such as data centers and chips. Pang’s departure marks the most significant loss in Apple’s AI division since it began developing Apple Intelligence, highlighting fierce competition for top talent. Meta has been luring elite engineers with compensation packages far exceeding what Apple offers. Apple’s AI efforts have faced scrutiny after limited progress on Apple Intelligence and internal leadership reshuffles.