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3h ago

Apple Talent Drain Accelerates as OpenAI and Meta Poach AI and Design Leaders

Rival hiring sprees are relocating Apple-trained expertise to competing AI hardware efforts.

Apple Park, Apple's circular HQ office building, is seen in an aerial view over Cupertino, California on May 16, 2024.
The Apple Store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan on July 10, 2025.
Customers try the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality glasses device by US company Apple Inc. during the launch at the Apple store on Champs Elysees avenue in Paris on July 12, 2024
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Overview

  • Dozens of Apple engineers and designers with backgrounds in audio systems, watch design, and robotics have joined OpenAI in recent months as it builds a hardware division, with reports saying its first device is expected next year.
  • Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that OpenAI hired more than 40 people for its devices group in the past month, with many recruits coming directly from Apple.
  • Meta has recruited multiple former Apple employees, including long‑time design leader Alan Dye to run a new creative studio inside Reality Labs, and nine former Apple AI staffers identified by Business Insider.
  • Apple announced leadership changes that include the planned retirements of AI chief John Giannandrea, general counsel Kate Adams, and environment lead Lisa Jackson, while naming Amar Subramanya as vice president of AI and bringing in Meta’s Jennifer Newstead as the next general counsel.
  • CNN reports Apple delayed a major Siri upgrade to next year and notes growing outside speculation about Tim Cook’s future, underscoring pressure for a clearer AI strategy as rivals expand their products and teams.