Apple loses another AI executive to Meta, 6th in row
What's the story
Apple has lost another top artificial intelligence (AI) executive, Frank Chu, to Meta Platforms, according to Bloomberg. The move comes even as the social media giant prepares to slow down its recruitment process. Chu, who led Apple's AI teams focused on cloud infrastructure and training, will be joining Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), an initiative supported by Mark Zuckerberg and led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang.
Transition details
Chu's role at Apple and new position at Meta
At Apple, Chu was instrumental in managing large language models (LLMs) on the company's cloud servers and training the software. He also contributed to developing search features for Siri voice assistant and entertainment services. At Meta, he will work on a new team called MSL Infra, which will handle AI infrastructure work under Wang.
Recruitment trends
Exodus of Apple AI talent to Meta
Chu is the sixth Apple AI models employee to join Meta. The trend started in July when Ruoming Pang, head of Apple's models team, left for a $200 million package at Meta. He was followed by AI engineers Tom Gunter, Mark Lee, Bowen Zhang, and Yun Zhu. Despite the high-profile exits, Apple and Meta spokespeople have declined to comment on these developments.
Strategic shifts
Meta pauses hiring while Apple struggles to keep up
Despite bringing in Chu, Meta is slowing its recruitment after spending billions to build up the Superintelligence group. The company said in a memo this week that it is "temporarily pausing hiring across all MSL teams, with the exception of business-critical roles." Meanwhile, Apple's AI efforts have been disrupted by these departures. The tech giant has been struggling to keep pace with competitors and recently delayed a major update to Siri.