July 17 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms ( META ) has hired

Apple ( AAPL ) artificial intelligence researchers Mark Lee and

Tom Gunter for its Superintelligence Labs team, Bloomberg News

reported on Thursday, as it intensifies its pursuit for top AI

talent.

The social media giant is among several technology companies

that have struck high-profile deals and doled out

multi-million-dollar pay packages to fast-track development of

machines that could surpass humans intelligence.

Lee recently left Apple ( AAPL ) and has started at Meta, while

Gunter is set to join soon, the report said, citing people

familiar with the matter.

Their exit follows Ruoming Pang, who previously left Apple ( AAPL )

for a multi-million-dollar compensation package at Meta,

according to a media report earlier this month.

Lee and Gunter both worked closely with Pang, the Bloomberg

report said on Thursday.

Pang was the head of Apple's ( AAPL ) Foundation Models team and

responsible for advanced AI features, sources have told Reuters.

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the report, while

Apple ( AAPL ) did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for

comment.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday that his social

media platform would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to

build several massive AI data centers.

In recent weeks, Zuckerberg has personally led an aggressive

talent raid in the pursuit to create a division called

Superintelligence Labs.