Meta Platforms Inc has made headlines by hiring top AI engineer Ruoming Pang from Apple Inc with a massive compensation package worth over $200 million. Pang is now part of Meta’s Superintelligence team, a new group focused on building AI systems.

This pay deal is one of the largest ever given to a tech engineer, even rivaling the salaries of Fortune 500 CEOs. Pang, who led Apple’s Foundation Models team, played a key role in developing advanced features like Genmoji and a smarter Siri. He also managed over 100 engineers working on large language models and generative AI.

Before Apple, Pang worked at Google on major projects like Lingvo and Zanzibar. He holds a PhD from Princeton and is considered one of the top minds in artificial intelligence.

Meta’s offer to Pang includes a large base salary, a big signing bonus, and a huge amount of Meta stock that will vest over time, depending on company performance. Apple did not try to match the offer, which shows just how aggressive Meta is in the race for AI talent.

Meta’s Superintelligence Lab has also attracted other big names. Nat Friedman (former GitHub CEO), Daniel Gross (AI startup founder), and Alexandr Wang (co-founder of Scale AI) have joined the team. Meta even acquired a 49% stake in Scale AI to bring Wang onboard.

This move is part of a wider trend. Meta has reportedly hired more than 10 researchers from OpenAI, and others from Anthropic and Google. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has criticised Meta’s high signing bonuses — some reportedly as high as $100 million — saying they’re distorting the market.

Experts say AI engineers are now some of the highest-paid professionals in the world. As Meta, OpenAI, Apple, and Google compete for the best minds, the fight for top talent is reshaping salaries across the tech industry.

Find your daily dose of All Latest News including Sports News, Entertainment News, Lifestyle News, explainers & more. Stay updated, Stay informed- Follow DNA on WhatsApp.