Apple’s Top AI Engineer Jumps Ship to Meta in Poaching Blow: Report

Apple’s artificial intelligence efforts just took another hit. According to a report from Bloomberg, Ruoming Pang—the executive leading Apple’s foundation models team—is leaving the company to join Meta.

He’s the latest in a string of high-profile hires by Mark Zuckerberg’s new AI “superintelligence” group, which is poaching the best people through large compensation offers.

Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Meta lured Pang with a compensation package worth tens of millions annually. His departure is seen as a major blow for Apple, which is still trying to establish its Apple Intelligence features across its devices (including a delayed AI Siri). Pang’s team built the large language models powering Apple’s newest AI tools, including Genmoji, notification summaries, and Siri enhancements.

But according to Bloomberg, morale on the foundation models team has dropped. Some staff are uneasy about Apple exploring a shift to outside AI providers—like OpenAI or Anthropic—to power the next version of Siri. A few engineers have told colleagues they’re planning to leave as well, which will hurt Apple’s AI teams.

Pang’s exit follows the recent departure of his deputy, Tom Gunter. The AFM (Apple Foundation Models) team will now be restructured under new leader Zhifeng Chen, with a more layered management system being put in place.

Apple’s broader AI strategy has seen leadership changes, too. Senior VP John Giannandrea has been sidelined, with software chief Craig Federighi and Apple Vision Pro lead Mike Rockwell now overseeing key areas. Giannandrea remains focused on AI research.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports Meta has been pouring billions into AI this year, aggressively building out infrastructure and poaching top names from rivals. Zuckerberg is said to be personally involved in recruiting—even inviting candidates to his homes in Silicon Valley and Lake Tahoe. Zuckerberg is still firing on all cylinders at Meta like he’s still in start up mode.

As Apple tries to catch up in the AI race, the loss of Pang raises questions about whether Apple can keep building in-house, or whether it will have to rely more heavily on partners like OpenAI to stay in the game.