Here’s a breakdown of the key information from the provided text:
Key Departures from Apple’s AI Team:
Lee and Gunter: Two key members of apple’s AI team, Lee (Pang’s first hire) and Gunter (a distinguished engineer and senior employee), have left the company.
Gunter’s New Role: Gunter has joined Meta.
Meta’s Aggressive Recruitment: Meta is actively recruiting Apple’s AI talent with “generous job offers,” frequently enough “several multiples higher” than Apple’s compensation.
Gunter’s compensation: Gunter is reportedly receiving a multiyear package worth over $100 million.
Apple’s AI Team Turmoil and Strategy:
Apple Foundation Models (AFM) Team: The team developing Apple’s generative AI technology is experiencing “continuing turmoil.”
External model Consideration: Apple’s top AI executives are considering using outside models (like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude) to power Siri and other apple Intelligence features.
Siri’s Future: the decision on which underlying software to use for Siri, launching next spring, is still pending. Apple is developing versions with both its own models and third-party technology.
Apple’s Retention Efforts: Apple is offering some engineers raises to stay, but these increases are significantly less than Meta’s offers.
Meta’s AI Ambitions:
“Superintelligence” Investment: Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta’s intention to invest “hundreds of billions of dollars into compute to build superintelligence.”
Talent density: Zuckerberg is focused on building “the most elite and talent-dense team in the industry.”
* Strategic placement: Top AI hires at Meta are being placed near Zuckerberg at the company’s headquarters for easier collaboration.
In essence, the article highlights a talent war in the AI space, with Meta aggressively poaching Apple’s AI engineers by offering significantly higher compensation, while Apple grapples with internal strategy decisions regarding its AI development and the future of Siri.
