Apple AI Exodus: Why Top Researchers Are Quitting for Meta and Google DeepMind

Apple is losing more people from its artificial intelligence team, adding to concerns about talent leaving the company’s AI efforts. This seems like deja vu as more and more people appear to be departing Apple’s AI teams.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman on Friday, Apple has lost at least four more AI researchers in recent weeks, citing anonymous sources. This comes after the recent departure of a senior Siri executive.

The researchers who left include Yinfei Yang, Haoxuan You, Bailin Wang, and Zirui Wang. People familiar with the situation said Yang left Apple to start a new company. You and Bailin Wang both moved to Meta while Zirui Wang is no longer with Apple as well.

You is now working with Meta’s Superintelligence research group, while Bailin Wang has joined a team focused on recommendation systems. Some former Apple AI staff have also been heading to Google DeepMind, highlighting strong competition for AI talent across the industry.

Here’s a timeline of the past Apple exits in the past year, beyond just AI talent:

• Early 2025 (Jan): Luca Maestri (CFO) transitioned to VP of Corporate Services; Kevan Parekh took over as CFO (Maestri expected to retire soon after).
• July 2025: Jeff Williams (COO, long-time #2 to Tim Cook) announced retirement; duties shifted to Sabih Khan (fully retired November 2025).
• Throughout 2025: Several AI leaders left for Meta, including Ruoming Pang (AI foundation models head) and others (e.g., Jian Zhang in robotics).
• Early December 2025: John Giannandrea (SVP Machine Learning & AI Strategy) stepped down; will advise until spring 2026 retirement (replaced by Amar Subramanya).
• Early December 2025: Alan Dye (VP Human Interface Design) left to join Meta as Chief Design Officer.
• December 4, 2025: Lisa Jackson (VP Environment, Policy & Social Initiatives) announced retirement in late January 2026.
• December 4, 2025: Kate Adams (General Counsel) announced transition and retirement late 2026; Jennifer Newstead (from Meta) to succeed in March 2026.

Apple and Google announced a multi-year partnership in January, where Google’s Gemini AI models will power the next-gen, more personalized Siri as part of Apple Intelligence, with processing handled on-device and via Apple’s Private Cloud Compute for privacy. This highly anticipated upgraded Gemini-powered Siri is expected to be unveiled sometime this spring (and can’t come soon enough).