Ruoming Pang, Apple AI Team Leader, Leaves For Meta

JAKARTA - Apple's top executive who deals with artificial intelligence, Ruoming Pang, reportedly left the company to join Meta Platforms. The news was quoted from a Bloomberg News report on Monday, July 7 referring to sources familiar with the matter.

Ruoming Pang previously served as manager of the Apple Foundation Models team, the team responsible for developing the AI fundamental model at Apple. According to the report, Pang will join Meta's new super intelligence team with a multimillion-dollar compensation package per year.

Neither Meta nor Apple have yet to provide an official response to a request for comment from Reuters.

This move comes amid intense competition between big tech companies to recruit the best talent in AI. Meta is known to be actively acquiring and offering lucrative compensation packages to win competition in the development of cutting-edge AI technology.

Some time ago, Meta announced the formation of a new division called Meta Super Intelligence Labs as part of the restructuring of their AI team. The division will be led by Alexandr Wang, former CEO of Scale AI, a startup engaged in data labeling. Wang will serve as Chief AI Officer on Meta.

Meta's investment in the AI Scale last month also attracted attention. The deal assessed the startup's company was worth $29 billion and brought 28-year-old Wang into the structure of the Meta organization.

The move from Pang from Apple to Meta is in the spotlight because it occurs when both companies are intensively developing their respective AI technologies. Apple is known to be more closed in AI development, while Meta is more open and aggressive in investing in this area.