Recently, Ruoming Pang, the head of Apple's AI model team, left the company to join Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Super Intelligence Lab (MSL). According to a report by Bloomberg, Pang chose to join Meta due to the attractive salary offer that he could not refuse.
Image source note: The image is AI-generated, and the image licensing service provider is Midjourney
According to the report, the compensation package offered by Meta to Pang is one of the most attractive in the AI talent war, with a total compensation of over $200 million to be paid over several years. This salary package includes base salary, signing bonus, and Meta stock, with the stock being the most important part. To attract top talent, Meta will also increase the signing bonus based on the equity that employees give up from their previous startup companies.
Notably, this amount even exceeds the compensation level of Apple CEO Tim Cook, which made Apple not attempt to match the offer. According to the contract structure, Pang must work at Meta for a period of time and the company's stock performance must be good to receive the full compensation, which is a common practice in Silicon Valley. This move shows Meta's aggressive approach in expanding the MSL department.
Interestingly, the $200 million offer for Pang was announced against the backdrop of Meta's Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth downplaying Meta's recruitment efforts. Bosworth stated in a company-wide meeting that Sam Altman's comments about researcher salaries at OpenAI were not accurate, and while the market is hot, not everyone can receive such high compensation.
According to Bloomberg's report, Pang's departure may just be the beginning, as many engineers who previously worked under him are also considering joining Meta or leaving Apple. In response, Apple appointed Zhifeng Chen to replace Pang as the new head of the Apple Foundation Model team and restructured the management, assigning responsibilities to other senior engineers.
Key Points:
💰 Ruoming Pang, the head of Apple's AI team, left to join Meta's Super Intelligence Lab with a salary exceeding $200 million.
📈 Meta provided high salaries and stock compensation to attract talent, while Apple did not match this offer.
🔄 Pang's departure may trigger a wave of departures from Apple's team, and Apple has already restructured its management to respond.