Apple has lost two more specialists from the Apple Foundation Models (AFM) team, which is responsible for developing artificial intelligence technologies. They were lured to Meta, where the team's head Ruoming Pang had previously moved. Bloomberg reports.
According to sources, Meta has hired Mark Lee and Tom Hunter for its superintelligence development team, Supperintelligence Labs. Lee has already assumed his duties with the new team, while Hunter will start work in the near future.
Lee was one of Pang’s first hires at AFM, while Hunter was considered a top employee on Apple’s AI team. This will affect the Cupertino company’s overall AI ambitions, which are considering using third-party models to power Siri, which in turn casts a shadow over the team’s future.
AFM reports to research chief Daphne Luong, who is also the senior vice president of AI. Along with several other executives, including Craig Federighi, they are discussing the possibility of using OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude as the basis for Apple Intelligence.
Apple is reportedly developing two versions of its AI simultaneously, one based on its own models and one based on models from other companies. By the time the promised updated Siri hits the market, company executives will have to decide which version to use.
Meanwhile, Meta continues to actively expand its superintelligence team. In addition to luring Apple employees, the company previously lured two more researchers from OpenAI. At the same time, the Cupertino company is also preparing a major personnel reshuffle against the backdrop of difficulties with artificial intelligence.