Meta Platforms has recruited two senior artificial intelligence (AI) researchers from Apple, in what marks another major coup in the intensifying competition for top-tier AI talent. The appointments follow closely on the heels of Meta’s high-profile acquisition of Ruoming Pang, the former head of Apple’s large language model (LLM) division.
Mark Lee and Tom Gunter, both previously pivotal figures in Apple’s AI efforts, have been brought on board Meta’s Superintelligence Labs team, according to individuals familiar with the matter. While Lee has already commenced his new role, Gunter is expected to join in the near future. Meta has not officially confirmed the hires.
The move underscores Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s commitment to positioning the company at the forefront of AI development. Zuckerberg has made AI a central strategic priority, pledging massive investment in personnel and infrastructure to rival the capabilities of OpenAI and Google. Just this week, he declared on Threads that Meta would “invest hundreds of billions of dollars into compute to build superintelligence”.
Gunter, previously a distinguished engineer at Apple, left the company last month and briefly joined another AI venture before making the switch to Meta. Lee, reportedly the first hire made by Pang at Apple, also exited recently. Both were considered integral to Apple’s Foundation Models (AFM) team, the group behind the company’s generative AI projects.
Meta’s offer to Pang, which included a compensation package exceeding $200 million, appears to have set a precedent. Gunter and several others in Meta’s AI division are believed to have secured similarly lucrative multiyear contracts, valued at over $100 million.
These aggressive recruitment tactics come as Apple grapples with growing internal uncertainty. Its AFM division, responsible for developing proprietary AI models for Siri and Apple Intelligence, is in flux, with senior leaders reportedly weighing the use of third-party models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude for upcoming products.
Apple’s top AI executives, including Research Head Daphne Luong and SVP John Giannandrea, are now collaborating with software chiefs Craig Federighi and Mike Rockwell to decide the strategic direction of Siri and associated AI services, ahead of a planned rollout next spring.
In response to Meta’s poaching efforts, Apple has started offering pay increases to some members of the AFM team, estimated to be around 100 strong, in an attempt to retain key personnel. However, these incentives reportedly fall far short of the eye-watering sums Meta is willing to commit.
