Apple’s artificial intelligence plans are facing a rough patch. While the company recently highlighted AI as a major focus during its earnings call, it failed to clearly explain how it plans to make money from these tools. That left investors unimpressed. Adding to the pressure, a new report says Apple has lost several key AI researchers to rival companies.
Still, Apple is pushing ahead and plans to launch a new chatbot-style Siri later this year, hoping to regain momentum in the fast-moving AI race.
Apple AI Team Exodus Raises Questions About Apple AI Strategy
According to a Bloomberg report, Apple has lost at least four AI researchers in recent weeks. These include Yinfei Yang, Haoxuan You, Bailin Wang, and Zirui Wang. Earlier, Stuart Bowers, a senior director, also exited the company.
Two researchers, You and Bailin Wang, have reportedly joined Meta. You is now part of Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, while Wang has joined its recommendations team. Zirui Wang and Stuart Bowers have moved to Google DeepMind.
Yang has reportedly started working on his own startup, which is currently in stealth mode. Most of these exits came from Apple’s Foundation Models team, which works on core AI systems. Bowers, on the other hand, was linked to Siri.
Following these departures, Apple has reshuffled leadership. The Foundation Models team is now led by AI researcher Zhifeng Chen after its former head left for Meta last year.
Apple Siri AI Upgrade Still On Track Despite Apple AI Challenges
Despite the talent drain, Apple’s AI roadmap is still moving forward. The company is said to be working on two major Siri upgrades. The first, often called Advanced Siri, will allow the assistant to access user data across the device. This means Siri could answer more personal and contextual questions.
The second project is more ambitious. Internally known as Campos, it aims to turn Siri into a full chatbot-style assistant. This version is expected to behave like popular AI chatbots and handle longer, more complex conversations.
The chatbot-style Siri is likely to arrive later this year, possibly with iOS 27 and related updates. Reports also suggest that these features could run on AI models developed with support from Google.
Even as competitors move fast, Apple is betting that tighter integration and privacy-focused AI will help Siri make a strong comeback.
