Overview

• Meta confirmed that Jian Zhang, Apple’s lead AI robotics researcher, has joined its Robotics Studio within Reality Labs.
• Three more Apple Foundation Models engineers — John Peebles and Nan Du to OpenAI, and Zhao Meng to Anthropic — left in the past week.
• Apple’s Foundation Models group has lost roughly 10 members in recent weeks, including its head Ruoming Pang, who departed for Meta on a multiyear package reported at about $200 million.
• Apple shares briefly fell about 1.5% after reports of the latest exits, as the company weighs greater reliance on third‑party AI models, according to Bloomberg.
• Meta continues a high‑stakes push toward superintelligence — including a reported $14.3 billion Scale AI stake, a reorg into four AI units, and nine‑figure offers — even as some recent recruits have already left and leadership insists investment is increasing.