Apple is reportedly losing top AI researchers as and rivals are circling

The wave of departures began when Ruoming Pang, a highly respected AI exec who led Apple’s foundation model development, left the company to join Meta’s Superintelligence Labs. Pang joined Apple from Google in 2021 and oversaw a 100-person team behind key Apple Intelligence features, including Genmoji and on-device text summarization.His exit, however, turned out to be just the beginning. Soon after, two more senior engineers from Apple’s AFM (Apple Foundation Models) group — Mark Lee and Tom Gunter — followed Pang to Meta. Meanwhile, OpenAI has reportedly poached Brandon McKinzie and Dian Ang Yap, both of whom were involved in core research efforts at Apple.

Recruiters call it a “crisis of confidence” inside Apple

According to Financial Times, AI-focused recruitment firm Razoroo describes the situation as a “crisis of confidence” inside Apple’s AI division. 

That assessment seems to align with the broader trend. The Wall Street Journal reports that key AI companies like Meta and OpenAI are making net gains in talent — and Apple, it seems, is falling behind in the increasingly cutthroat race for top-tier AI engineers.

Despite the recent losses, Apple doesn’t appear to be standing still. During the company’s Q3 2025 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook told analysts that Apple is “very open” to major mergers and acquisitions that could boost its AI efforts. While the company has already acquired seven AI-related startups this year, Cook signaled that larger deals could be on the table if they help accelerate Apple’s roadmap.

This marks a significant shift for Apple, which has historically avoided large acquisitions — its biggest to date remains the $3 billion Beats deal in 2014. But with competitors like Google, Meta, and OpenAI moving quickly, Apple may need to buy its way back into the AI race.

The company has reportedly explored partnerships with OpenAI, Anthropic, and even considered acquiring Perplexity AI, a fast-growing startup in the generative search space. Meanwhile, Apple Intelligence is set to finally come introduce a much improved Siri in spring of 2026.