Apple’s ambitious project to revamp Siri with advanced AI capabilities has hit a major roadblock with the reported departure of Ke Yang, Senior Director of Machine Learning, to Meta, according to a report citing sources familiar with the matter. Yang, a pivotal figure in developing a conversational web search feature for Siri akin to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, led the “Answers, Knowledge and Information” (AKI) team, tasked with transforming Siri’s limited internet query responses into dynamic, context-rich interactions.

The AI-powered web search functionality was designed to position Apple as a competitor in the rapidly growing AI search market, challenging the likes of Google, Perplexity, and OpenAI. Currently, Siri’s web searches lack the depth and conversational fluency of leading AI chatbots, a gap Yang’s team aimed to bridge. His exit, expected in the coming days, could disrupt Apple’s timeline for delivering a revamped Siri, intensifying the company’s challenges in the competitive AI landscape.

Yang, who reported to John Giannandrea, Senior Vice President of Apple’s AI and Machine Learning group (AIML), collaborated with the Siri engineering team under software chief Craig Federighi. Described as the most critical employee on the Siri overhaul, his departure follows a troubling trend, with over 10 members of Apple’s Foundation Models team, including lead scientist Ruoming Pang, also reportedly joining Meta. This talent drain underscores the fierce competition for AI expertise as Apple strives to catch up with rivals.

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Meta’s poaching of Yang highlights the broader industry race to dominate generative AI and search technologies. As Apple works to enhance Siri’s capabilities to bypass Google’s search dominance, the loss of key talent could delay its progress, raising questions about the company’s ability to retain top researchers and deliver a cutting-edge AI assistant in an increasingly crowded market.

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