Key Takeaways
Apple has lost another senior artificial intelligence executive to Meta Platforms in what marks the latest setback for the company's struggling efforts to overhaul its Siri voice assistant.
Ke Yang, who was appointed just weeks ago to lead Apple's team developing AI-driven web search capabilities, is leaving the iPhone maker to join Meta, according to a Bloomberg News report citing people familiar with the matter.
The departure comes as Apple races to deliver a major Siri upgrade planned for March 2026.
Yang headed the Answers, Knowledge, and Information team, known internally as AKI, which has been tasked with developing features to make Siri more competitive with ChatGPT by enabling it to pull real-time information from the web.
The team plays a central role in Apple's broader push to revive its artificial intelligence operations amid mounting competitive pressure from rivals including OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.
Pattern of departures
The executive's exit continues a troubling pattern for Apple's AI division. Yang has been with the company since 2019 and is a Carnegie Mellon University graduate.
He initially led the search-focused segment of the AKI team before taking over the entire division following the departure of its previous head, Robby Walker.
Meta has aggressively recruited AI talent from Apple throughout 2025.
The social media giant previously hired Ruoming Pang, founder of Apple's foundational models team, as well as Frank Chu, another senior leader in Apple's AI group who departed in August. According to reports, Meta has been offering compensation packages as high as $200 million to lure top AI executives.
Following Yang's departure, the AKI team will now report to Benoit Dupin, a deputy to John Giannandrea, Apple's senior vice president of AI and machine learning, who oversees the company's broader AI initiatives.
Siri overhaul faces delays
The leadership shake-up comes as Apple works to deliver on long-delayed promises to transform Siri into a more capable assistant.
The company originally planned to launch the Siri overhaul earlier this year, but was forced to delay after engineering failures caused features to break in up to one-third of tests.
The planned March 2026 update aims to give Siri the ability to handle more complex queries using on-device personal data, including emails, messages, files, and photos.
The new version would allow users to request information like "Show me the files Eric sent me last week" or "Find the email where Eric mentioned ice skating."
In March 2025, Apple CEO Tim Cook oversaw a major restructuring of the AI team, removing Giannandrea from Siri leadership and replacing him with Mike Rockwell, the executive who led the Apple Vision Pro project.
The move reflected Cook's concerns about the pace of development under the previous leadership structure.
Intensifying AI talent war
Yang's departure to Meta highlights the fierce competition for AI expertise across Silicon Valley.
Tech companies are pouring investments into artificial intelligence development in what industry insiders describe as a race toward superintelligence.
Apple, Meta, and Yang did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters on the executive's departure.
The loss of key personnel has complicated Apple's internal AI efforts at a critical juncture.
The company has been attempting to catch up with competitors who have made rapid advances in generative AI and AI-powered search technologies over the past two years.
Apple's AI strategy under pressure
Apple's challenges with Siri development reflect broader difficulties the company faces in its AI strategy.
The tech giant has been criticized for falling behind rivals in rolling out consumer-facing AI features, despite its massive resources and engineering talent.
The company has explored partnerships with external AI providers, including OpenAI and Anthropic, while simultaneously working to develop more sophisticated in-house capabilities.
Apple's approach has emphasized privacy and on-device processing, which has presented additional technical challenges compared to cloud-based AI systems deployed by competitors.
The AKI team's work on web-based information retrieval represents a key component of Apple's effort to make Siri competitive with newer AI assistants that can access real-time internet data to answer queries.
Without this capability, Siri has been limited to pre-programmed responses and cannot match the versatility of ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, or other large language model-based assistants.
Read more:
