Apple’s AI talent exodus has accelerated with four new high-profile departures to rival companies, including the loss of its Lead AI Researcher for Robotics to Meta. The brain drain threatens Apple’s efforts to catch up in artificial intelligence and could force the company to rely more heavily on external partnerships rather than homegrown AI development.
What you should know: Meta has successfully recruited Jian Zhang, Apple’s Lead AI Researcher for Robotics, to join its Robotics Studio despite the company’s broader hiring freeze.
- Zhang led a small team of academics focused on automation technology and AI’s role in robotics products at Apple.
- His team had already experienced turnover, with one of his reports, Mario Srouji, leaving for Archer Aviation, an electric aircraft company, in April.
- This follows Meta’s earlier poaching of Frank Chu, who led Apple AI teams focused on cloud infrastructure, training and search.
The bigger picture: Apple’s Foundation Models team, which was central to creating the Apple Intelligence platform, has lost roughly 10 members including its chief in recent weeks.
- Three engineers from this core team departed simultaneously: John Peebles and Nan Du joined OpenAI, while Zhao Meng moved to Anthropic, an AI safety company.
- The Foundation Models team was instrumental in Apple’s bid to catch up in AI through the Apple Intelligence platform launched last year.
Why this matters: The talent hemorrhage is forcing Apple to reconsider its AI strategy and explore alternatives to purely internal development.
- Apple is now discussing internally whether to rely more on outside technology rather than just homegrown models.
- The company is considering splashy acquisitions, with names like Mistral, a French AI startup, and Perplexity, an AI-powered search company, in the mix.
- Apple is also exploring partnerships with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google to develop models needed for the revamped, AI-driven Siri unveiled at WWDC24 but never brought to market.
Competitive landscape: Meta’s ability to attract Apple talent despite its hiring freeze demonstrates the intense competition for AI expertise.
- The departures suggest Apple may be struggling to retain top AI talent compared to competitors like Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
- This talent migration could accelerate rivals’ AI development while potentially slowing Apple’s internal capabilities.
Recent Stories
DOE fusion roadmap targets 2030s commercial deployment as AI drives $9B investment
The Department of Energy has released a new roadmap targeting commercial-scale fusion power deployment by the mid-2030s, though the plan lacks specific funding commitments and relies on scientific breakthroughs that have eluded researchers for decades. The strategy emphasizes public-private partnerships and positions AI as both a research tool and motivation for developing fusion energy to meet data centers' growing electricity demands. The big picture: The DOE's roadmap aims to "deliver the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector scale up in the 2030s," but acknowledges it cannot commit to specific funding levels and remains subject to Congressional appropriations. Why...
Oct 17, 2025Tying it all together: Credo’s purple cables power the $4B AI data center boom
Credo, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company specializing in data center cables and chips, has seen its stock price more than double this year to $143.61, following a 245% surge in 2024. The company's signature purple cables, which cost between $300-$500 each, have become essential infrastructure for AI data centers, positioning Credo to capitalize on the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure expansion as hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI rapidly build out massive computing facilities. What you should know: Credo's active electrical cables (AECs) are becoming indispensable for connecting the massive GPU clusters required for AI training and inference. The company...
Oct 17, 2025Vatican launches Latin American AI network for human development
The Vatican hosted a two-day conference bringing together 50 global experts to explore how artificial intelligence can advance peace, social justice, and human development. The event launched the Latin American AI Network for Integral Human Development and established principles for ethical AI governance that prioritize human dignity over technological advancement. What you should know: The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Vatican's research body for social issues, organized the "Digital Rerum Novarum" conference on October 16-17, combining academic research with practical AI applications. Participants included leading experts from MIT, Microsoft, Columbia University, the UN, and major European institutions. The conference...