Meta’s AI ambitions are getting another major boost, and this time, it’s at Apple’s expense. Ruoming Pang, head of Apple’s foundation models team, has reportedly jumped ship to join Meta’s newly minted Superintelligence Labs. This move only adds to Meta's growing reputation for snatching up top AI talent, and let’s just say, Apple’s feeling the sting.
Pang, who managed a team of around 100 engineers working on key language models that power Apple Intelligence, including on-device summarization, Genmoji, and Priority Notifications, is a big loss for the tech giant. His departure follows that of Tom Gunter, his top deputy, just last month.
It’s not like Meta hasn’t been busy either. The company recently acquired a 49% stake in Scale AI for $14.3 billion, bumping its valuation to a hefty $29 billion. This move is just shy of Meta’s $19 billion WhatsApp buyout back in 2014. Talk about dropping serious cash to make waves in the AI space.
Apple's Struggle in the AI Race
“Meta’s hiring strategy is a textbook reverse acqui-hire—surgically extracting its competitors’ core intellectual capital to cement its future in the AI race,” said Jeth Ang, COO at Sovrun.
And let's face it, while Meta’s approach might be grabbing headlines, it raises some serious questions about sustainability.
"The real question is whether this aggressive, over-indexing on superstar talent will ultimately cultivate the stable, innovative culture needed to win the marathon to AGI," Ang continued. "It’s a high-risk pivot that will be difficult to sustain."
This loss is just another chapter in the ongoing narrative that Apple is lagging behind in the AI race. “Even Siri is seemingly looking like a big fumble,” Ang pointed out. Yikes. With all eyes on generative AI, Apple has been scrambling to play catch-up, relying heavily on partnerships with OpenAI, rather than developing in-house breakthroughs.
For Apple, Pang’s departure, coming so soon after their developer conference announcement of long-awaited generative features, doesn’t help build confidence. Apple’s internally fractured AI teams have voiced concerns about the company’s unclear strategy. It’s clear that Meta’s aggressive AI talent grab is putting serious pressure on Apple’s position in the market.
“Losing top-tier AI talent to a direct competitor reinforces a narrative that they are struggling to change,” Ang concluded.
If Apple doesn’t adjust course soon, it might not just be Siri that’s in trouble.
Roman Zaika
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