Meta (Facebook’s parent company) is on a major hiring spree for its powerful new AI team called “Superintelligence.” In just one month, four top AI researchers from Apple have left to join Meta. The most recent one, Bowen Zhang—an expert in multimodal AI—left Apple last Friday to be part of Meta’s mission to create AI systems smarter than humans.
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This wave of talent leaving is a big blow to Apple, which has been struggling with its AI strategy. In 2025, Apple’s efforts to improve AI features in its products haven’t gone well. Even during their major WWDC event, they admitted that their AI tools didn’t meet their own standards. This delay could impact key products like the iPhone and even future tech like Apple robots.
One of the most shocking departures was Ruoming Pang, who led Apple’s AI foundation team. He reportedly joined Meta with a deal worth over $200 million! Alongside him, Tom Gunter and Mark Lee—also important AI researchers—have moved to Meta.
While Meta is growing fast in AI, Apple is facing major questions about its future in this field. Some insiders say Apple’s in-house AI models are falling behind, and the company might need to team up with companies like OpenAI or Anthropic to improve Siri.
Investors are worried. Apple’s stock value has dropped by more than $630 billion this year. Many believe Apple needs to make a big move, possibly buying another AI company, to stay in the game.
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One major reason for the talent loss: Meta is offering huge salaries and clear vision. On the other hand, Apple is struggling with internal confusion, slower pay raises, and a stricter approach to privacy, which makes AI development harder since they don’t use cloud processing as much.
Meta is racing ahead with bold moves and big money, while Apple risks falling behind in the fast-growing world of AI.
