Apple has once again lost one of its key figures in its artificial intelligence division. Ke Yang, who led the development of AI-based web search for the iPhone, is now reportedly ready to join Meta.
As reported by Tech Crunch on Friday, Yang's departure joins a long list of experts leaving Apple's artificial intelligence (AI) team. This is considered to disrupt the company's preparations for the launch of a major Siri update scheduled for March 2026.
Previously, Ruoming Pang, Apple's former head of AI model development, also left for Meta. Around a dozen members of Apple's AIML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) team also left the company, with some joining Meta's new unit, Superintelligence Labs.
In recent weeks, Yang has been known to lead the Answers, Knowledge, and Information (AKI) team, which is tasked with improving Siri's ability to retrieve information directly from the web.
This move is considered crucial to strengthening Apple's position in the AI search competition against OpenAI, Perplexity, and Google. The new version of Siri also promises to leverage users' personal data to perform more complex tasks.
The remaining members of Apple's AI team expect more talent to leave in the coming months.
