It’s Saturday morning, January 31, 2026, and if you’re looking for the engineers who were supposed to be “fixing” Siri, you might find them at the Google or Meta cafeterias. Apple just lost four more high-level AI researchers and a heavy-hitting Siri executive in what’s looking like a full-blown brain drain.
The thing is, they aren’t just leaving for better snacks; they’re leaving because Apple’s “privacy-first” internal pace is losing out to more aggressive projects. Or nothing.
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The “Siri Exodus”: Field Notes
It’s an ongoing situation where Apple’s decision to outsource its “brain” to Google Gemini has left some internal teams feeling like second-class citizens. Here’s the ground reality:
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The Big Jumpers: Researchers Haoxuan You and Bailin Wang headed to Meta. You is reportedly joining Zuck’s “Superintelligence” lab—a team that’s been poaching talent with $100 million signing bonuses. Zirui Wang and senior exec Stuart Bowers (who ran the show for Siri’s response tech) both jumped to Google DeepMind. Those too.
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The “Irony” Factor: Here’s the kicker—Stuart Bowers is now working at Google on the very same Gemini models that Apple is paying billions to use for the “new Siri” arriving this spring. It’s a circular talent loop that’s making Apple Park look a bit empty.
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The Startup Spark: Yinfei Yang, a chief research scientist, isn’t joining a rival—he’s starting his own venture called Elorian with a co-lead from Google’s Gemini team. They’re reportedly hunting for $50M to teach AI how to “see and understand” computer screens like humans.
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The Internal Friction: Let’s be real—Apple engineers are used to building everything in-house. Software chief Craig Federighi reportedly pushed the Google deal because Apple’s own models were over a year behind. That decision “rankled” the staff who spent years trying to build a homegrown GPT competitor. Or nothing.
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Apple AI Talent Tracker: Jan 2026
| Name | Role at Apple | New Destination | Focus Area |
| Stuart Bowers | Senior VP, Siri | Google DeepMind | Gemini Model Integration |
| Yinfei Yang | Chief Research Scientist | Elorian (Startup) | Visual Reasoning / AGI |
| Haoxuan You | Foundation Models | Meta | Superintelligence Lab |
| Zirui Wang | AI Researcher | Google DeepMind | Core Model Dev |
| Bailin Wang | AI Researcher | Meta | Recommendation Systems |
And Here’s the Kicker…
While the talent is leaving, Apple just reported all-time record earnings on Thursday ($143.8 billion), largely because people still love the hardware. The thing is, Tim Cook defended the Google partnership during the call, saying it’s the “most capable foundation” for Apple. It’s an ongoing situation where Apple is trading its R&D independence for immediate market survival. Those too.
One side comment—the “new Siri” (Siri 2.0 or whatever they call it) is still scheduled for a Spring 2026 rollout. It’s supposed to be “significantly more capable,” but the engineers who know how it actually works are now sitting across the table during contract negotiations. Or nothing.
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End…
