Apple is experiencing a significant exodus of AI talent, with over a dozen employees departing the company throughout 2025, including its AI chief John Giannandrea, who announced his retirement after nearly eight years as senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy. The departures highlight the intensifying AI talent wars among Big Tech companies, with Meta emerging as the primary beneficiary, attracting nine former Apple AI professionals.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been offering notoriously large compensation packages to lure top AI talent across the industry, successfully recruiting key figures from Apple’s AI division. Among the notable departures to Meta are Frank Chu, who served as head of engineering for nearly six years and now works as a software engineer at Meta Superintelligence Labs, and Ruoming Pang, a senior distinguished engineer who led Apple’s foundation models team before joining Meta as an AI research scientist in July.
Other significant losses include Robby Walker, senior director of answers, knowledge, and information; Tom Gunter, a distinguished engineer with over seven years at Apple; and Ke Yang, senior director of machine learning who described his departure as “bittersweet.” Additional researchers joining Meta’s AI efforts include Chong Wang, Shuang Ma, Bowen Zhang, and Mark Lee, all transitioning to research scientist roles at Meta Superintelligence Labs.
OpenAI also benefited from Apple’s talent drain, with Brandon McKinzie, a senior research engineer of foundational models, and Dian Ang Yap, a machine learning researcher, both joining OpenAI’s technical staff. Liutong Zhou, a senior applied machine learning scientist, departed for Canadian AI startup Cohere to work on foundation models.
Beyond AI-specific roles, Apple is losing key executives including Alan Dye, head of human interface design who will join Meta’s Reality Labs division, Kate Adams, the company’s general counsel since 2017, and Lisa Jackson, vice president for environment, policy, and social initiatives.
Apple hasn’t been entirely on the losing end of the talent shuffle. The company recruited Amar Subramanya as its new vice president of AI, who left Google in June for Microsoft before joining Apple months later. Additionally, Meta’s top lawyer Jennifer Newstead is departing to become Apple’s general counsel, demonstrating that talent movement flows in multiple directions despite Apple’s net losses in AI personnel.
Key Quotes
bittersweet
Ke Yang, Apple’s former senior director of machine learning for six years, described his departure to Meta in a LinkedIn post using this term, suggesting the difficulty of leaving Apple despite attractive opportunities elsewhere in the AI industry.
Our Take
This talent exodus reveals a deeper strategic challenge for Apple in the AI era. While Apple has historically succeeded through vertical integration and product polish, the AI revolution demands different capabilities—massive compute resources, cutting-edge research environments, and rapid iteration cycles that startups and Meta-sized companies can offer more readily. The loss of foundation models expertise is particularly telling, as these large language models form the backbone of modern AI applications. Meta’s Superintelligence Labs appears to be building a formidable research organization by cherry-picking talent from competitors. However, Apple’s ability to attract Google and Microsoft talent like Amar Subramanya shows the company still has drawing power. The real question is whether Apple’s traditionally secretive, product-focused culture can adapt quickly enough to retain AI researchers who increasingly value open research, publication opportunities, and collaboration—areas where Meta and OpenAI have significant advantages.
Why This Matters
This mass exodus from Apple’s AI division represents a critical inflection point in the AI talent wars that are reshaping Big Tech’s competitive landscape. The departures signal potential vulnerabilities in Apple’s AI strategy at a time when artificial intelligence capabilities are becoming central to product differentiation and market leadership. Meta’s aggressive talent acquisition, particularly for its Superintelligence Labs, demonstrates the company’s commitment to competing in the AI arms race and suggests significant investments in advanced AI research and development.
The concentration of departures around foundation models and machine learning leadership is particularly concerning for Apple, as these areas are fundamental to developing competitive AI products like improved Siri capabilities, on-device AI features, and generative AI applications. The fact that employees are willing to leave Apple—traditionally known for employee loyalty and competitive compensation—for Meta and OpenAI indicates these companies may be offering not just higher pay, but more compelling AI research opportunities and resources. This talent migration could impact Apple’s ability to compete in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, potentially affecting future product releases and innovation timelines.
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Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-execs-and-researchers-left-apple-mostly-for-meta-2025-12