Apple Loses Top AI Exec To Meta’s Hiring Spree

Meta has poached Ruoming Pang, the head of Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI) models team, marking a major setback for Apple’s AI ambitions.

Pang’s departure is the most significant AI exit at Apple since it began its Apple Intelligence project several years ago. I Photo: Ruoming Pang Facebook

Pang is the latest high-profile hire in Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s aggressive recruitment push, reportedly offered a compensation package worth tens of millions of dollars to leave Apple, Bloomberg reported. Karen Friar also reported the move for Yahoo Finance.

Pang led a team of about 100 people responsible for Apple’s large language models—the core technology behind Apple Intelligence and other AI features on iPhones and iPads.

Apple had recently announced that these models would be opened up to third-party developers for the first time, a move expected to spur a new wave of apps.

Internally, however, Apple’s foundational models team has come under scrutiny from new leadership, who are now exploring the integration of third-party models—such as those from OpenAI or Anthropic—to power an upgraded version of Siri.

Pang’s departure is the most significant AI exit at Apple since it began its Apple Intelligence project several years ago.

The move underscores the escalating war for AI talent. Meta has reportedly been offering some of the world’s top engineers multi-million-dollar annual packages—far more than what Apple pays for similar roles.

Pang’s exit could be the first of many; several Apple engineers have reportedly told colleagues they plan to jump ship to Meta or other rivals.