Who Is Ke Yang? Apple’s AI Search Leader Quits Weeks After Promotion to Join Meta

Apple is facing a surprising shake-up in its artificial intelligence division. Ke Yang, the executive recently promoted to lead Apple’s AI web search team, has resigned—just weeks after taking charge—to join Meta. His unexpected exit raises questions about Apple’s ambitious plans to upgrade Siri with advanced AI features.

Ke Yang was heading the Answers, Knowledge, and Information (AKI) team at Apple, responsible for creating ChatGPT-style capabilities that connect Siri to the web, deliver live answers, and use personal data (with user permission) to perform complex tasks. This AI overhaul was expected to launch around March, as part of Apple’s competition with OpenAI, Google Gemini, and Perplexity.

Now, with Yang’s departure, Apple has redirected the AKI team to Benoit Dupin, who oversees machine learning cloud infrastructure. Apple and Meta have not released official statements, but the move comes during intense talent competition in the AI industry.

Who Is Ke Yang? Career Highlights

Ke Yang is a respected software engineering leader with over 15 years of experience in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

• Education: Graduate of Carnegie Mellon University

• Google (11 years): Early member of the Google Brain team

  • Helped build AI infrastructure, including the early parameter server

  • Contributed to TensorFlow, Google’s widely used machine learning platform

  • Improved Google Search quality, especially for Asian languages and mobile search

• 🏢 Houzz: Led advertising and industry solutions, growing from engineer to manager

• Apple: Joined to work on AI and search infrastructure

  • Recently promoted to lead the AKI (Answers, Knowledge & Information) team

  • Reported directly to John Giannandrea, Apple’s AI and Machine Learning SVP

Why His Exit Matters

Ke Yang’s resignation highlights a growing talent war in Silicon Valley, especially between Apple and Meta. In the last year alone, over a dozen senior AI engineers have left Apple’s core teams—many heading to Meta’s Superintelligence Labs.

Meta is aggressively hiring AI experts to expand its own AI infrastructure and challenge rivals in AI-powered search and assistants.