Behind the scenes of Apple’s AI push, fresh challenges are emerging even as the company presses ahead with major product plans. A new report suggests that the iPhone maker has recently seen several key AI researchers leave for rival firms, though its roadmap for a more advanced Siri remains unchanged.
Apple’s artificial intelligence efforts have so far drawn a muted response from users and investors. During its latest earnings call, CEO Tim Cook highlighted AI as a strategic focus but did not outline clear monetisation plans. This lack of clarity reportedly led to a weak reaction in the stock market.
According to a report, Apple has lost 4 AI researchers in recent weeks. Those who have exited include Yinfei Yang, Haoxuan You, Bailin Wang, and Zirui Wang. Their departures follow the exit of Stuart Bowers, a Senior Director, who left last month to join a rival company.
The report says that You and Bailin Wang have joined Meta. You is working with the Superintelligence Labs, while Bailin Wang is part of the Recommendations team. Zirui Wang and Bowers have reportedly moved to Google DeepMind. Yang, meanwhile, is said to be working on his own startup, which is currently operating in stealth mode.
Notably, the 4 researchers were part of Apple’s Foundation Models team. Bowers, on the other hand, was associated with Siri. These exits have reportedly triggered a quick internal reshuffle. The Foundation Models team is now said to be led by AI researcher Zhifeng Chen, following the departure of former head Ruoming Pang to Meta last year.
Despite the talent drain, Apple’s Siri plans are said to be progressing as planned. One project, often referred to as Advanced Siri, is designed to allow the voice assistant to access user data across the device and respond to queries using that information.
The second and more ambitious initiative aims to transform Siri into a full chatbot-style experience. Internally known as Campos, it is expected to launch later this year, likely alongside iOS 27 and related updates across Apple devices. This version of Siri is said to offer capabilities similar to chatbots such as ChatGPT or Gemini, and both new Siri versions are reportedly powered by custom AI models from Google.
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