Meta has delivered another blow to its rival by hiring two more key engineers from Apple’s artificial intelligence division.
As the competition between Apple and Meta for dominance in the emerging smart glasses market heats up, the battle has now extended behind the scenes into a war for talent. According to a new Bloomberg report, Meta has recruited two additional key engineers from Apple’s AI team.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Tom Gunter and Mark Lee, two more researchers from Apple’s AI department, have joined Meta. The pair will work directly on Meta’s AI hardware projects, including its smart glasses.
Not long ago, Meta also managed to bring on Ruoming Pang, a prominent figure in Apple’s AI team. These successive departures confirm predictions of a troubling trend for Apple and indicate that Meta is seriously strengthening its team by hiring individuals who are thoroughly familiar with Apple’s work approach and culture.
Meta’s Recruitment of Apple AI Talent
This talent war is significant because, despite their heavy investments, both tech giants are pursuing very different strategies for the future of smart glasses:
- Meta’s Strategy: In collaboration with Ray-Ban, Meta already has a product on the market featuring voice assistant capabilities and some basic AI features. Meta’s goal is to deeply integrate AI into a wearable everyday gadget.
- Apple’s Strategy: In contrast, rumors suggest that Apple’s first-generation smart glasses will be a minimal device without a display. It will likely focus on the camera, audio quality, and full integration with the iPhone—functioning more like an advanced version of AirPods with visual capabilities than a full-fledged augmented reality device.
Regardless of the strategy, both companies’ success heavily depends on advanced AI. Features such as context-aware voice interactions, real-time camera enhancements, and instant data processing all require a strong team of AI engineers. Meta’s apparent strategy is to build such a team by directly recruiting experts who have already worked on these challenges at Apple.
While there is still no confirmed release date for Apple’s smart glasses—analysts predict it could be a year or two away—Meta continues to update its hardware regularly. This behind-the-scenes rivalry demonstrates that in the race to develop the next generation of smart glasses, the engineers building the technology are just as crucial as the hardware itself.
