Who Is Bowen Zhang? Another Top AI Researcher Departs Apple for Meta’s Superintelligence Group

Apple has lost another senior artificial intelligence researcher to Meta, the fourth such high-profile defector in just one month. Bowen Zhang, a multimodal AI researcher, has left Apple to join the newly created superintelligence team at Meta in a new sign of intensifying competition for AI talent.

Zhang was a core member of Apple’s Foundation Models Group (AFM), the group responsible for building the foundation tech stack across all of Apple’s AI products and services. His departure comes after three others from the same team left: Ruoming Pang, who was head of the AFM group, and researchers Tom Gunter and Mark Lee. Indeed, Pang was reportedly enticed by a whopping $200 million compensation package from Meta.

The misgivings come as several prominent figures in Apple’s AI group have recently left the company. The AFM team is now fumbling in the dark and at a loss for direction as they see the roadmap ahead being lost. More engineers on the team are openly searching for other jobs, insiders say, a sign of rising frustration and anxiety. Another member, Floris Weers, recently departed Apple to join a start-up.

Apple has been investing heavily in AI, particularly as rivals like Google, Microsoft, and Meta turn generative AI into an even more sophisticated and challenging field. But losing top researchers to a rival company is a setback for Apple. The company is reportedly exploring outside models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude to fuel a new iteration of Siri. Meanwhile, Apple is also working on building its own models using the AFM framework, creating confusion among employees about the company’s overall direction.

Meta, meanwhile, is playing offense. The company’s new superintelligence group is considered a strategic play to have a hand in shaping the next round of AI development. With big salaries and a clear mission, Meta seems to be luring away the best AI minds from its rivals.

The continued brain drain is a part of a larger trend in the tech world. As the race heats up, firms are competing for both tech and the people who make it. Apple’s difficulty holding onto key personnel could hinder its competitiveness in this fast-moving area.

As the race narrows, the big question is whether Apple will remain a leader in AI innovation, or if it’s losing its edge.