Latest news with #Gunter
Mint
a day ago
- Business
- Mint
Mark Zuckerberg's Meta recruits two key Apple AI engineers after luring team leader
Meta Platforms has recruited two senior artificial intelligence (AI) researchers from Apple, in what marks another major coup in the intensifying competition for top-tier AI talent. The appointments follow closely on the heels of Meta's high-profile acquisition of Ruoming Pang, the former head of Apple's large language model (LLM) division. Mark Lee and Tom Gunter, both previously pivotal figures in Apple's AI efforts, have been brought on board Meta's Superintelligence Labs team, according to individuals familiar with the matter. While Lee has already commenced his new role, Gunter is expected to join in the near future. Meta has not officially confirmed the hires. The move underscores Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's commitment to positioning the company at the forefront of AI development. Zuckerberg has made AI a central strategic priority, pledging massive investment in personnel and infrastructure to rival the capabilities of OpenAI and Google. Just this week, he declared on Threads that Meta would "invest hundreds of billions of dollars into compute to build superintelligence". Gunter, previously a distinguished engineer at Apple, left the company last month and briefly joined another AI venture before making the switch to Meta. Lee, reportedly the first hire made by Pang at Apple, also exited recently. Both were considered integral to Apple's Foundation Models (AFM) team, the group behind the company's generative AI projects. Meta's offer to Pang, which included a compensation package exceeding $200 million, appears to have set a precedent. Gunter and several others in Meta's AI division are believed to have secured similarly lucrative multiyear contracts, valued at over $100 million. These aggressive recruitment tactics come as Apple grapples with growing internal uncertainty. Its AFM division, responsible for developing proprietary AI models for Siri and Apple Intelligence, is in flux, with senior leaders reportedly weighing the use of third-party models like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude for upcoming products. Apple's top AI executives, including Research Head Daphne Luong and SVP John Giannandrea, are now collaborating with software chiefs Craig Federighi and Mike Rockwell to decide the strategic direction of Siri and associated AI services, ahead of a planned rollout next spring. In response to Meta's poaching efforts, Apple has started offering pay increases to some members of the AFM team, estimated to be around 100 strong, in an attempt to retain key personnel. However, these incentives reportedly fall far short of the eye-watering sums Meta is willing to commit.
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
Meta hires two Apple AI researchers for Superintelligence push
Meta Platforms has hired Apple artificial intelligence researchers Mark Lee and Tom Gunter for its Superintelligence Labs team, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, as it intensifies its pursuit for top AI talent. The social media giant is among several technology companies that have struck high-profile deals and doled out multi-million-dollar pay packages to fast-track development of machines that could surpass humans intelligence. Lee recently left Apple and has started at Meta, while Gunter is set to join soon, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Their exit follows Ruoming Pang , who previously left Apple for a multi-million-dollar compensation package at Meta, according to a media report earlier this month. Lee and Gunter both worked closely with Pang, the Bloomberg report said on Thursday. Pang was the head of Apple's Foundation Models team and responsible for advanced AI features, sources have told Reuters. A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the report, while Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday that his social media platform would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build several massive AI data centers . In recent weeks, Zuckerberg has personally led an aggressive talent raid in the pursuit to create a division called Superintelligence Labs.
Mint
a day ago
- Business
- Mint
After poaching their boss, Meta hires two more Apple AI researchers with $100 million deals
Meta has poached two more key artificial intelligence researchers from Apple, shortly after hiring their former boss, Ruoming Pang. Notably, Pang, who headed Apple's large language models team, was recruited by Meta earlier this year with a multi-year compensation package reportedly worth over $200 million. Following Pang's move, Meta has now hired Mark Lee and Tom Gunter for its Superintelligence Labs team, the company's high-profile AI division led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and ex-GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. According to Bloomberg, Lee has already joined Meta after leaving Apple in recent days, while Gunter is set to begin work soon. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken a hands-on role with Superintelligence Labs, particularly after the company's Llama 4 models struggled to match the competition. In recent months, Meta has intensified a talent war, actively poaching engineers and researchers from Apple, Google, and OpenAI. These high-profile exits come amid growing turmoil within Apple's foundation models team, which develops the technology behind the company's AI features. Reports suggest Apple's top AI executives are considering using external models to power Siri and other Apple Intelligence features, potentially relying on OpenAI's ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude next year. Such a shift could put the future of Apple's in-house foundation models team at risk. Meta has reportedly taken advantage of the uncertainty at Apple by making 'generous' job offers to key engineers, often offering salaries several times higher than Apple's packages for foundation engineers. In response, Apple has started giving raises to around 100 of its top engineers in an effort to retain talent. However, despite these hikes, Meta's offers remain significantly higher. Bloomberg reports that Gunter, for instance, is part of a cohort receiving multi-year packages worth over $100 million. Zuckerberg has made it clear he is willing to invest heavily to build Meta's Superintelligence Labs. 'For our superintelligence effort, I'm focused on building the most elite and talent-dense team in the industry. We're also going to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into compute to build superintelligence. We have the capital from our business to do this,'he wrote in a post on Threads.
Indian Express
a day ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Tech talent war heats up: Meta poaches Apple AI researchers after OpenAI
Meta, the Mark Zuckerberg-led company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, recently created a new division called Superintelligence Labs, which will focus on developing artificial general intelligence and work on next-gen large language models. Led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and ex-GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, in the last few days, Meta has been poaching AI experts left and right by offering them multi-million-dollar pay packages. Now, a Bloomberg report suggests that Meta has hired Mark Lee and Tom Gunter, two AI researchers who previously worked at Apple. While Lee has already started working, citing sources familiar with the matter, the report says Gunter will soon be joining Meta. As it turns out, both Lee and Gunter were close to Rouming Pang, the renowned AI researcher who previously led Apple's Foundational Models team and recently joined Meta after the company offered him a multiyear compensation package worth well over $200 million. When Pang worked for Apple, Lee was his first hire. On the other hand, Gunter had made a name for himself at Cupertino and was regarded as one of the most senior employees. Meta's Superintelligence Labs was reportedly created to bring together the company's foundational AI model teams, product teams and the Fundamental AI research (FAIR) division. A few days ago, Wired reported that OpenAI researchers Jason Wei and Hyung Won Chung may soon be joining Meta. Wei worked on o3 and deep research models, while Hyung worked on the o1 model and focused on reasoning and agents. These poachings are part of Mark Zuckerberg's plan to expand its Superintelligence Labs division with talent from around the world. In a post on Threads, the Meta CEO said that his company would 'invest hundreds of billions of dollars into compute to build superintelligence', which refers to a form of advanced technology that can do tasks better than humans. In the coming days, tech giants and multi-billion-dollar AI startups like Google, OpenAI and Meta might double down on hiring researchers working on AI by offering them even more lucrative packages.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Meta hires two Apple AI researchers for Superintelligence push: Report
Meta Platforms has hired Apple artificial intelligence researchers Mark Lee and Tom Gunter for its Superintelligence Labs team, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, as it intensifies its pursuit for top AI talent. The social media giant is among several technology companies that have struck high-profile deals and doled out multi-million-dollar pay packages to fast-track development of machines that could surpass human intelligence. Lee recently left Apple and has started at Meta, while Gunter is set to join soon, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Their exit follows Ruoming Pang, who previously left Apple for a multi-million-dollar compensation package at Meta, according to a media report earlier this month. Lee and Gunter both worked closely with Pang, the Bloomberg report said on Thursday. Pang was the head of Apple's Foundation Models team and responsible for advanced AI features, sources have told Reuters. A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the report, while Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday that his social media platform would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build several massive AI data centres. In recent weeks, Zuckerberg has personally led an aggressive talent raid in the pursuit to create a division called Superintelligence Labs.
