Global tech giants are investing hundreds of millions of USD in key artificial intelligence (AI) researchers while simultaneously automating existing staff with AI agents, leading to a growing divide in the workforce.
Chinese tech behemoths are also joining the fray, offering astronomical compensation packages to lure top talent with experience from industry leaders like OpenAI and Google DeepMind.
Industry sources revealed on Tuesday that Apple’s Senior Vice President of AI Search, Robby Walker, is set to depart the company next month.
Walker, who previously oversaw the development of the voice AI assistant Siri, transitioned to the AI search project team, known as AKI (Answers Information and Knowledge), following delays in AI advancements.
While Walker’s next move remains undisclosed, speculation suggests he may have accepted an offer from a competitor.
Walker’s exit follows a string of departures from Apple’s Apple Foundation Model (AFM) team, including key researchers like Ruoming Pang, who headed AFM Development, to rival Meta.
Meta has reportedly offered top-tier researchers compensation packages worth up to 300 million USD over four years, along with access to 30,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) for select individuals.
Microsoft has recently entered the talent war, classifying some Meta researchers as Critical AI Talent and offering premium compensation packages.
This aggressive hiring strategy comes even as Microsoft laid off 15,300 employees (about 7% of its workforce) from January to July this year, highlighting the company’s focus on core AI talent.
Tencent, the Chinese tech giant behind WeChat, has also joined the talent acquisition race. Reports suggest they’ve recruited OpenAI researcher Yao Shunyu with a staggering compensation package of up to 100 million CNY (approximately 14,047,000 USD).
Yao, who joined OpenAI last June after a stint at Google, gained prominence for developing the React Framework and attracting high-value recruitment attempts from Meta.
In contrast, Elon Musk’s xAI has announced plans to lay off 500 data annotation personnel.
This team, the largest in the company with about 1,500 employees, was responsible for contextually classifying raw data to train Grok using reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF).
xAI described this as an immediate strategic shift, stating plans to expand its professional AI tutor team tenfold instead.
A new trend of reverse talent acquisition has emerged this year, with tech giants opting to recruit only founders and key personnel rather than acquiring entire startups.
An industry insider noted that the value brought by a single key AI talent is astronomical, driving big tech firms to competitively raise compensation. Further noting that this has led to a stark contrast where existing staff are increasingly automated with AI agents to offset these investment costs.
