Meta Recruits Apple’s Top AI Engineer
In the race for top artificial intelligence talent, Meta has made a bold move: the company has recruited Ruoming Pan, head of Foundation Models at Apple, offering him a compensation package worth over $200 million.
According to insider reports, Meta’s offer includes a large stock package to be paid out gradually over several years. This is one of the biggest signing bonuses in the industry in recent years, especially in the field of AI development.
Who is Ruoming Pan?
Pan was one of the lead architects of Apple’s internal AI systems. He oversaw the development of Foundation Models – large-scale neural networks Apple planned to integrate into its devices starting with iOS 18. Under his leadership, Apple worked on generative AI for Siri, private LLMs, and deeper AI integration into the iPhone ecosystem.
Why does it matter?
- Meta is betting heavily on AI in its competition with OpenAI and Google. Its Meta AI division is working on personal agents and generative AI tools for WhatsApp and Instagram.
- Apple is losing a key engineer in the middle of launching its AI-powered features. In June, Apple introduced “Apple Intelligence” – a suite of on-device AI tools.
- The $200M+ offer exceeds the annual salary of many tech CEOs. For example, Apple CEO Tim Cook earned $74M in 2023.
What’s next?
Meta and Apple are now engaged in a quiet AI arms race. While Apple focuses on private, localized AI, Meta pushes open-source models and wide-scale deployment across products.
If Meta continues to poach engineers from Apple and Google, this could lead to an even fiercer battle over personal AI and a new wave of innovation shaping entire digital ecosystems.
🧠 Bottom line:
When AI engineers are valued at hundreds of millions – it’s not just recruitment, it’s a strategic conquest of the future.
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