Oct 16, 2025 11:58:00

The person who was the developer of Apple's 'ChatGPT-like AI search feature' moves to Meta

Apple has previously stated that

it has no plans to build its own search engine , but in light of the rise of AI search engines like Perplexity, it has been reported that the company is considering developing an AI search engine . It has now been revealed that the person in charge of developing such an AI search feature has left Apple to work at Meta.

Apple's Head of ChatGPT-Like AI Search Effort to Leave for Meta - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-15/apple-s-newly-tapped-head-of-chatgpt-like-ai-search-effort-to-leave-for-meta

Meta poaches Apple's newly appointed head of AI search project - 9to5Mac
https://9to5mac.com/2025/10/15/meta-poaches-apples-newly-appointed-head-of-ai-search-project/

Apple AI team loses another executive to Meta
https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/10/15/apple-ai-team-loses-another-executive-to-meta?utm_source=feedly

In recent months, Apple has lost machine learning and AI experts to rivals like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Meta, including Jiang Zhang, who served as lead AI researcher in Apple's robotics division; Luoming Pan, who led Apple's Foundation Models team; and Frank Zhu, who oversaw the development of cloud infrastructure, model training, and search features used in Apple's AI.

According to a Bloomberg report, Ke Yang, who was the new head of the AI search project, has been poached by Meta.

Yang was in charge of a project called 'Answers, Knowledge and Information' (AKI), which was developing AI search functionality that would allow voice assistants like Siri to retrieve information from the web and provide answers based on a broader range of knowledge. Bloomberg describes AKI as 'a project that aims to develop search or question-answering capabilities that reference external information, such as ChatGPT.' The project was established in early 2025.

Yang was originally only responsible for the 'Answers' feature in AKI, but following the restructuring, he has been given the role of overseeing the entire AKI team. This follows the departure of

Robbie Walker, who was previously in charge of AKI, from Apple.

Yang reportedly worked directly under Apple's vice president of AI, John Giannandrea. Yang's departure leaves the company without a person in charge of AKI, but it's unclear what the future holds for the project.

Meta continues to recruit talented AI developers from competitors based on ' The List, ' a collection of outstanding researchers and engineers in the AI industry, and in July 2025, it also recruited Luomin Pan, head of AI model development at Apple.

Meta successfully poached Apple's head of AI models, as Mark Zuckerberg continues to steal talent from competitors - GIGAZINE