Apple’s New AI Chief Quits Weeks After Appointment, Joins Meta in Major Silicon Valley Talent War
Apple has been struggling to hold its best artificial intelligence experts as people are leaving every now and then. The latest name is Ke Yang, who was recently appointed as a leader of a new AI team at Apple working on building a search tool like ChatGPT. According to the reports, Yang has joined Meta, which is already hiring experts from Apple and other tech rivals in Silicon Valley.
According to reports from Bloomberg, Yang was the head of Apple’s Answers, Knowledge, and Information (AKI) group. The team was formed this year to make Siri more conversational and smarter, with the ability to instantly pull information from external websites. However, things seem to slow down as Yang’s exit comes just after the departure of Robby Walker, who had been handling Siri’s long-delayed revamp.
Yang’s exit from Apple feels like a part of a broader “Brain Drain” where people are leaving Apple to join their rival companies. At the same time, Meta has also hired numerous experts from Apple which including Jian Zhang (former lead researcher for robotics), Ruoming Pang (former lead of foundation model teams), and Frank Chu, who used to work at AI infrastructure and search.
As per the information, the unjustified delay from Apple to introduce its Apple Intelligence features has left numerous employees frustrated. For instance, the new Siri experience, which was set to launch in March next year, is already facing multiple setbacks. At the same time, John Giannandrea, senior vice president of AI at Apple, is said to have a reduced role while Apple is consistently seeking new leadership to revive its AI strategy.
On the other hand, Meta seems to be moving ahead with a complete blast, building one of the strongest AI teams in Silicon Valley by integrating advanced generative tools into its apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
The departure of Yang has brought another setback to Apple’s already shaky ambition toward AI development. Apple still has to answer who will be leading the company’s efforts to catch up in the rapidly evolving world of generative AI.
