Meta has reportedly hired Ke Yang, the Apple executive leading its new AI-driven search initiative, in what marks another major loss for Apple’s artificial intelligence division. Yang headed the Answers, Knowledge, and Information team, known internally as AKI, which was developing a ChatGPT-like system to power Siri’s next evolution. According to Bloomberg, Yang’s exit comes just weeks after he was appointed to the position and further intensifies the ongoing rivalry between Apple and Meta over AI talent.
The AKI team sits within Apple’s AI and machine learning division, tasked with enabling Siri to pull information from the web instead of relying solely on preloaded data. The project represents one of Apple’s biggest internal shifts toward integrating generative AI into its ecosystem, with the overhauled Siri expected to debut in early 2026. Yang’s sudden departure, therefore, lands at a critical moment for Apple as it races to modernize its voice assistant and compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
Yang’s move follows a growing trend of high-profile exits from Apple’s AI organization, with roughly a dozen engineers and researchers having joined Meta’s Superintelligence Labs in recent months. The group, led by Mark Zuckerberg, is focused on developing large-scale multimodal AI systems and has aggressively recruited from across Silicon Valley. Earlier this year, Meta hired Thinking Machines co-founder Andrew Tulloch, along with former Apple researchers Mark Lee and Tom Gunter, all as part of its expansion into advanced AI reasoning and conversational models.
Apple’s losses are notable given its traditionally tight internal culture and cautious approach to artificial intelligence. For years, the company has prioritized privacy, on-device processing, and measured integration over the large-scale data-driven strategies favored by its competitors. But as generative AI becomes foundational to modern software experiences, Apple’s strategy may be showing its limits. Without retaining top researchers like Yang, it risks falling further behind in a field that is quickly reshaping the future of computing.
At the same time, it is worth remembering that the entire AI industry remains in flux. Companies are hiring rapidly, making big promises, and shifting focus as technologies mature. What looks like upheaval at Apple could also reflect natural movement as teams form around long-term goals. Still, the optics of Meta repeatedly attracting Apple’s top AI talent are difficult to ignore, especially when Siri’s much-hyped upgrade is only months away from release.
Whether Apple’s patient, privacy-first approach to AI will eventually prove more sustainable remains to be seen. Its next generation of intelligence features is expected to arrive in 2026 alongside a new home device, powered by its in-house large language model. Until then, Apple’s biggest challenge may not be technology itself but keeping the right people in the room to build it.
(via Bloomberg)
