Apple’s newly tapped head of ChatGPT-like AI search project quits to join Meta

SAN FRANCISCO – The Apple executive leading an effort to develop AI-driven web search is stepping down, marking the latest in a string of high-profile exits from the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) division.

The

continued departures underscore the instability within Apple’s AI ranks

at a time when it is racing to catch up with OpenAI and Google, both of which are advancing quickly in generative AI and search.

The executive, Mr Ke Yang, is leaving for Meta Platforms, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Just weeks ago, he was appointed head of a team called Answers, Knowledge and Information, or AKI. The group is developing features to make the Siri voice assistant more ChatGPT-like by adding the ability to pull information from the web.

That team is central to a major Siri revamp planned for March 2026, part of Apple’s broader effort to revive its struggling AI operations. The new version of Siri will also include features delayed from earlier in 2025, such as the ability to tap into personal data to handle more complex requests.

The Answers feature, in particular, was designed to help Apple better compete with OpenAI, Perplexity and Alphabet’s Google Gemini in the AI-powered search market – a space rapidly gaining traction among both smartphone and computer users.

Mr Yang recently became a direct report to Mr John Giannandrea, Apple’s senior vice-president of AI and machine learning.

Mr Giannandrea had led the search-focused elements of the AKI group before taking over the entire division – a move that followed the departure of its previous head, Mr Robby Walker.

Apple has also been interviewing outside replacements for Mr Giannandrea.

Mr Yang was regarded as the most prominent executive working on the new Siri initiative. His exit ranks among the most significant departures from Apple’s AI organisation in 2025 – a period marked by a steady exodus of top researchers building the company’s AI core models.

Roughly a dozen members of that team – known internally as Apple Foundation Models – have departed, including its

founder and lead scientist Pang Ruoming

. He and a number of others also joined Meta, which is building a new group called Superintelligence Labs.

Several of the Apple team’s remaining members expect many more people to leave in the coming months.

Apple researcher Sam Wiseman left earlier in October to join Reflection AI. And one of Apple’s most senior remaining researchers, Mr Chong Wang, departed for Meta last week.

In August, Meta hired Mr Frank Chu, another senior leader in Apple’s AI group. He also led search-related AI teams.

With Mr Yang’s exit, the AKI team is being relocated under Mr Benoit Dupin, a Giannandrea deputy who oversees machine learning-related cloud infrastructure for Apple. BLOOMBERG