According to recent reports, Apple's core AI lead Peng Ruoming has departed the company to join Meta's Super Intelligent Lab, becoming another high-profile figure lured from rival firms to advance Meta's AI ambitions. While Meta officially unveiled its internal memo establishing the super AI lab last week, Peng's name was notably absent from the list of announced hires. His departure was first disclosed by Bloomberg on Monday citing anonymous sources with direct knowledge of the situation. This exit marks a significant setback for Apple's AI development pipeline. Peng previously managed a team of approximately 100 engineers responsible for developing foundational language models powering Apple's AI features - including on-device summarization, Genmoji, and notification prioritization. His departure follows that of his deputy Tom Gant, who left the company last month. Interestingly, Peng's exit coincided with Meta's $1.43 billion investment to acquire 49% of Scale AI, simultaneously bringing the startup's CEO aboard to lead the super intelligent lab. This strategic move valued Scale AI at $29 billion, marking Meta's second-largest single investment after the $19 billion WhatsApp acquisition in 2014. The parent company has faced criticism for its aggressive talent poaching strategies, with reports indicating intensive recruitment from OpenAI and Google dating back to April 2024. While Meta continues consolidating top AI talent, Apple appears to be losing ground in this critical domain. Peng's departure followed Apple's recent announcement of long-awaited generative features - many of which rely on OpenAI partnerships. Internal sources indicate multiple teams express concerns over unclear strategic direction and increasing dependence on integration rather than breakthrough internal AI innovations. "Meta's talent acquisition strategy exemplifies textbook reverse acquisition - systematically extracting competitors' core intellectual capital to reinforce their position in the AI race," said Jeth Ang, COO of Sovrun (a modular on-chain platform backed by a16z), in comments shared with Decrypt. He emphasized the deeper sustainability questions surrounding this approach. "The fundamental issue is whether this radical reliance on star talent can ultimately foster the stable, innovative culture required to win the general AI marathon," Ang noted, describing the approach as "a high-risk transformation that may prove unsustainable." Peng's departure exacerbates Apple's persistent perception problem, according to industry analysts. "There's a widespread perception that Apple's generative AI efforts appear behind the curve," Ang explained. "Even Siri now looks like a major misstep." He believes Apple's AI development has created a market void filled with skepticism. "While the departure of any single executive wouldn't derail Apple's large-scale projects, it certainly fails to build confidence. For a company historically defining tech trends, losing top AI talent to direct competitors reinforces narratives they're struggling to change," Ang concluded.