Ruoming Pang has joined OpenAI from Meta, where he was recruited to the Superintelligence Labs with a pay package reportedly worth over $200 million — one of the largest individual compensation offers in AI industry history. Pang's departure from Meta after just seven months is a significant embarrassment for the company.
Before Meta, Pang served as a Senior Distinguished Engineer at Apple, where he led the development of foundation models for Apple Intelligence, the company's suite of AI features integrated across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. His career trajectory — from Apple to Meta to OpenAI in rapid succession — illustrates the intense bidding war for researchers with hands-on experience building and deploying large-scale AI systems.
At Meta, Pang was expected to play a central role in the Superintelligence Labs' effort to develop AI systems beyond current frontier capabilities. His rapid departure raises questions about the lab's internal dynamics. At OpenAI, Pang brings rare expertise in deploying AI models at consumer scale, having shipped AI features to billions of Apple device users.
