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New Delhi: A few days back Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that the company will now focus a lot more on artificial intelligence (AI) as he termed the technology a ‘revolution’. He said that artificial intelligence is greater than the internet or smartphones. Why is Tim Cook concerned about Apple’s AI reputation? He was speaking at a rare all-hands meeting at Apple’s Cupertino campus following the company’s latest earnings report where he emphasised that Apple must act swiftly to move ahead of other players in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) as he laid out a determined roadmap that places AI at the heart of Apple’s future. What is the reason behind Apple losing its top AI talent? Now as the rivalry and competition rev up Apple has come to a point where it has to retain its top AI talent somehow or the other. Four of Apple’s senior AI researchers have left the company and joined Meta in just the past month. This forced the company to hike the remuneration for Apple engineers in its Apple Foundation Models (AFM) group reports Bloomberg. What is Apple offering recruits? Apple launched Apple Intelligence in 2024 yet its AI efforts have been comparatively slow. Siri is still waiting for the major revamp and Apple’s AI search ambitions are still in early development. However Apple is aggressively hiring across machine learning and AI roles offering lucrative pay packages and perks like stock grants product discounts and flexible working conditions. While Apple doesn’t publicly disclose salaries a report by Business Insider shared filings for international hires. The filings as per the report reveal that AI and engineering roles are among the best-paid. For example a Machine Learning Engineer can earn up to $312200 in base pay while Human Interface Designers top out at $468500. Software Development Engineers meanwhile can pocket up to $378700 annually. Take a look at Apple’s salary ranges across various roles (base pay only excluding stock grants and bonuses): Salary Range                                                                             (USD) Machine Learning Engineer                                        $143100 - $312200 Machine Learning Researcher                                    $114100 - $312200 Data Scientist                                                                  $105550 - $322400 Software Development Engineer (Applications)     $132267 - $378700 Human Interface Designer                                           $135400 - $468500 Hardware Systems Engineer                                        $125495 - $378700 AR/VR Software Development                                    $129805 - $312200 Software Engineering Manager                                   $166691 - $378700 RF/Analog/Mixed Signal Engineer                            $131352 - $312200 Design Verification Engineer                                      $103164 - $312200 As has been summed up by moneycontrol “Apple’s salaries are competitive but Meta’s aggressive poaching spree highlights a broader “talent war” in AI where Big Tech giants are racing not just for products but for people”.