Meta poaches Apple AI strategist Ke Yang amid intensifying talent war
His departure follows a series of high-profile exits from Apple’s AI division, signalling notable shifts in the company’s strategy and workforce.
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Meta has secured the high-profile hire of Ke Yang, formerly head of Apple’s AI models team, marking another significant move in the intensifying battle for AI talent. Yang, who joined Apple in 2019, led the Answers, Knowledge and Information (AKI) team responsible for overhauling Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, ahead of a planned relaunch in March, Reuters reported.
A Carnegie Mellon University graduate, Yang played a pivotal role at Apple, spearheading the development of AI-driven web search capabilities intended to make Siri more competitive with rivals like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. His departure follows a series of high-profile exits from Apple’s AI division, signalling notable shifts in the company’s strategy and workforce.
Yang’s move to Meta is part of a broader trend. Bloomberg reports that around a dozen members of Apple’s Foundation Models team have joined Meta, including founder and lead scientist Ruoming Pang, now leading Meta’s Superintelligence Labs. Other notable leavers include senior AI researcher Chong Wang, Frank Chu, and Sam Wiseman, all of whom have taken up roles at AI-focused firms or Meta.
At Apple, Yang initially managed the search-focused segment of AKI before taking full control of the division following former head Robby Walker’s departure. Reporting directly to John Giannandrea, Apple’s Senior Vice President of AI and Machine Learning, Yang’s leadership was central to Apple’s broader AI push, aimed at closing the gap with major rivals.
Industry observers view Yang’s move as a key moment in the global competition for AI expertise, highlighting Meta’s aggressive strategy to attract top talent from competitors and expand its AI capabilities. Neither Apple nor Meta has commented publicly on the hire.
