The AI talent war in Silicon Valley is getting fiercer by the day — and Meta just scored another major win.
Ke Yang, who was recently tapped to lead Apple’s new AI-driven web search project, has reportedly left the company to join Meta, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.
A Sudden Departure Amid Siri’s Big Overhaul
Yang’s exit comes as a surprise, given that she was appointed only weeks ago to head Apple’s Answers, Knowledge and Information (AKI) division — a key team behind the company’s upcoming overhaul of Siri, set for release in March.
The AKI team is said to be working on a ChatGPT-like conversational search experience that would bring Apple’s voice assistant into a new era of generative AI. Yang’s departure could potentially slow down those plans.
Neither Apple nor Meta has commented publicly on the move.
Meta’s Hiring Spree in the AI Race
Meta’s latest hire underscores how aggressively it’s expanding its AI capabilities to rival OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been investing heavily in AI infrastructure and research talent, positioning Meta as a frontrunner in the race toward artificial general intelligence (AGI).
In recent months, Meta has recruited several high-profile AI experts from Apple, including Robby Walker and Ruoming Pang, both of whom previously led machine learning initiatives for Siri.
The Bigger Picture: A Silicon Valley Power Shuffle
Tech giants are fiercely competing for top-tier AI talent as they pour billions into large language models, generative AI tools, and AI-driven assistants.
Apple, meanwhile, is racing to catch up in the AI space, with CEO Tim Cook promising that the company will make “major AI announcements” in 2025. But losing senior executives like Yang could make that goal harder to achieve.
Why It Matters
The tug-of-war for AI talent signals a new phase in Silicon Valley’s innovation race. As Meta, Apple, Google, and OpenAI continue to expand their AI empires, the next big leap in consumer tech may depend less on hardware — and more on who can attract the smartest minds in AI.