Meta Recruits Additional AI Talent from Apple
Meta has intensified its push in artificial intelligence by recruiting two additional researchers from Apple, just months after securing Ruoming Pang, the former head of Apple’s large language models team. These new hires—Mark Lee and Tom Gunter—are joining Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, a division focused on developing advanced AI capabilities.
Talent War Heats Up Between Meta and Apple
Following Pang’s move, Meta acted quickly to bring in more Apple engineers. Mark Lee has already started at Meta, while Tom Gunter is expected to join soon. This comes amid an aggressive talent acquisition strategy by Meta, which has targeted top engineers from Apple, Google, and OpenAI.
As Meta builds its AI capabilities, Apple’s foundation models team faces growing internal challenges. The team, which powers features like Siri and Apple Intelligence, may soon rely on external models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude. This shift has reportedly caused uncertainty among Apple’s AI researchers.
Amid this internal instability, Meta has offered highly attractive compensation packages. Some of these packages are valued at over $100 million, significantly outpacing what Apple currently offers its engineers. In an attempt to retain talent, Apple has provided raises to about 100 key employees. However, these increases still fall short when compared to Meta’s offers.
Meta’s Strategic Investment in AI Talent
The Superintelligence Labs team, led by prominent tech leaders, is central to Meta’s long-term AI ambitions. After facing challenges with its Llama 4 models, Meta has doubled down on recruiting elite talent. This includes not only engineering expertise but also leadership capable of driving innovation in large-scale AI systems.
Meta has capitalized on Apple’s internal uncertainties to bolster its ranks. By offering substantial compensation and clear focus, it continues to attract high-level researchers and developers. With a growing team and increased investment, Meta is positioning itself to compete more aggressively in the evolving AI landscape.
