Apple loses another AI exec to Meta
Ke Yang, the Apple executive leading the iPhone maker’s efforts to build AI-powered web search, is moving to Meta, according to Meta a Bloomberg report.
Yang’s departure marks the latest in a series of exits from Apple’s AI division, putting the company in jeopardy ahead of Siri’s long-awaited refresh scheduled for March. Ruoming Pang, Apple’s former head of AI modeling, left for Meta earlier this year. About a dozen team members from Apple’s AIML (AI and machine learning) team also left the company. Several members joined Meta’s new Superintelligence Labs.
A few weeks ago, Yang began overseeing the Answers, Knowledge, and Information (AKI) team, which is tasked with improving Siri’s functionality by letting it pull information from the Internet so Apple can better compete with rivals in the AI search market such as OpenAI, Perplexity, and Google. The new Siri also promises to be able to tap into personal data for more complex tasks.
Bloomberg reports that Apple’s remaining team members expect more AI team members to emerge in the coming months.
TechCrunch has reached out to Apple and Meta for comment.
