It’s not without reason that it’s called the AI talent war.
As Big Tech companies scramble to attract top talent, executives and artificial intelligence researchers have made a number of job changes this year, and Apple employees have been no exception.
The company lost more than a dozen employees who worked on AI projects, from executives to scientists and engineers, and even its AI chief, John Gianandrea, who announced this week that he was stepping down from his position.
One competing technology company is the biggest beneficiary of Apple's departure. That is Meta.
Nine of the former Apple employees listed below have joined Meta. At Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg offers notoriously high pay packages and incentives to attract AI talent from across the industry.
Other former Applers have jumped ship and joined OpenAI.
Indeed, Apple has its own recruiting efforts. The new vice president of AI is Amar Subramanya. He left Google in June to join Microsoft, and a few months later joined Apple. Jennifer Newstead, Meta's top lawyer, is leaving to become Apple's general counsel.
Here's the latest list of the AI talent Apple lost this year and where they ended up.
Executive:
John Gianandrea
Mr. Gianandrea served as Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy at Apple, a position he held for almost eight years. He is scheduled to retire in spring 2026, but will remain an advisor to Apple until then.
Alan Dye
Mr. Dai is responsible for human interface design and was a key figure in designing some of the company's software. He will join Meta to run a new creative studio within the Reality Labs division.
kate adams
Adams has been Apple's general counsel since 2017. She will move her role to Newstead and retire in late 2026.
lisa jackson
Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, is scheduled to retire at the end of January 2026.
AI leaders and researchers:
frank chu
Mr. Chu served as head of engineering at Apple for nearly six years before leaving to join Meta. He is currently a software engineer at the Meta Superintelligence Institute.
Luoming Pan
Pang was a senior distinguished engineer at Apple, where he led the company's foundational models team. He joined Meta's Superintelligence Institute as an AI researcher in July.
robbie walker
Walker was the senior director of answers, knowledge, and information at Apple. He announced his departure a month before leaving in October.
tom gunter
Gunter joined Meta as an AI research scientist in July after more than seven years at Apple, where he held the title Distinguished Engineer.
Ke Yang
Yang was Apple's senior director of machine learning. He spent six years at Apple, and described his departure as “bittersweet” in a LinkedIn post. He is currently an AI research scientist at Meta.
Jung Wan
Mr. Wang was a distinguished scientist at Apple before joining Meta as an AI research scientist.
Souma
Mr. Ma was a senior researcher at Apple. She joined Meta's Superintelligence Institute as a researcher in July.
Zhou Liutong
Zhou was a senior applied machine learning scientist at Apple before leaving to join Canadian AI startup Cohere as a member of the fundamental model technical staff.
bowen chan
Zhang, previously a staff machine learning researcher at Apple, joined Meta in July as an AI researcher.
mark lee
Lee was a research engineer at Apple before joining Meta as an AI research scientist in July.
Brandon McKinzie
Prior to joining OpenAI as a member of the technical staff, McKinzie was a senior research engineer for fundamental models at Apple.
Dian An Yap
Yap was a machine learning researcher at Apple. He joined OpenAI in August as a member of its technical staff.
