According to the Financial Times, in just the past few weeks, Apple has lost about a dozen AI experts, including top faces.

The spark for this wave was Ruoming Pang, the head of Foundation Model development, leaving Apple to join Meta's Superintelligence Labs. Pang, who joined Apple from Google in 2021, managed the 100-person team behind key Apple Intelligence features like Genmoji and on-device text summarization.

Soon after, two other senior engineers from the team, Mark Lee and Tom Gunter, followed Pang to Meta. In parallel, OpenAI - the developer of ChatGPT - attracted two other key Apple researchers, Brandon McKinzie and Dian Ang Yap.

iodcghtn.png
Apple has lost a number of senior AI engineers to competitors in recent weeks. Photo: PhoneArena

AI recruiting firm Razoroo described it as an internal “crisis of confidence.” Recruiting director Aaron Sines said Ruoming Pang’s departure was a “huge shock” and sent a signal that the future was uncertain.

“Our client companies are saying, ‘Look at Apple, it’s free agency season,’” he said.

This trend coincides with Wall Street Journal articles that show Meta and OpenAI are increasing their number of engineers, while Apple is falling behind in the race for AI talent.

Despite the huge loss, Apple is not sitting still. During the recent earnings call, CEO Tim Cook affirmed that the company is “very open” to large-scale M&A deals to accelerate AI development. “We don’t have a size limit. If a company can help accelerate our roadmap, we’re interested,” Cook said.

Apple has bought seven AI startups since the beginning of the year. The company has shown its willingness to make larger deals, breaking with its traditionally cautious approach. Apple’s biggest purchase to date was the $3 billion acquisition of Beats in 2014.

Sources said Apple has considered collaborating with OpenAI, Anthropic, and even considering acquiring Perplexity AI - a generative search startup.

(According to PhoneArena/FT)

President Trump threatens to impose 100% tax on semiconductors, Apple escapes US President Donald Trump has just announced plans to impose a 100% tax on imported products containing semiconductor chips, but will exempt companies that move production to the US like Apple.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/apple-khung-hoang-chat-xam-nhan-tai-lu-luot-ra-di-2429982.html