Meta Keeps At Its AI Hiring Spree As Zuckerberg-Led Company Poaches More AI Talent From Apple, OpenAI

Meta Platforms Inc. (META) has hired two artificial intelligence (AI) researchers from Apple (AAPL) to bolster its newly created Superintelligence Labs team, according to Bloomberg.

The social media giant poached Apple’s Mark Lee and Tom Gunter, according to the report, which cited people with knowledge of the matter. Lee has started at Meta, while Gunter will begin work in the near future.

The rumored hiring from Apple comes close on the heels of the Mark Zuckerberg-led company adding Ruoming Pang, who managed the tech giant’s large-language models (LLM) in his capacity as a “Distinguished Software Engineer.”

Meta has reportedly offered Pang a multi-year compensation package worth well over $200 million. Lee and Gunter used to work under Pang.

According to a separate Wired report published earlier this week, Meta has recruited OpenAI researchers Jason Wei and Hyung Won Chung, adding to the over half-dozen staff members it has poached from the AI startup co-founded by Sam Altman.

Meta is extending generous offers to hire key AI talent in Silicon Valley to keep pace with OpenAI and Google. CEO Zuckerberg has placed AI development at the top of the company's priority list and is investing heavily in staff and data centers.

The reported development marks another setback for Apple, which has struggled with delays and missteps in its AI strategy. Users are still waiting for the long-promised AI features in Apple devices, which rival gadgets have already been offering for over a year.

In March, Apple reorganized the leadership duties and placed the development of the Siri virtual assistant under Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell. The company is now reportedly considering using OpenAI's ChatGPT or Anthropic PBC's Claude as the foundation for Apple Intelligence beginning next year.

Apple has also begun offering raises to engineers in its Apple Foundation Models team, which is responsible for work related to AI, to retain them.

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