Corrects October 15 story in paragraph 6 to indicate that Bloomberg did not report Robby Walker left Apple for Meta Platforms

Oct 15 (Reuters) - Apple's AAPL.O Ke Yang, the newly tapped executive leading an effort to develop a ChatGPT-like AI-driven web search, is stepping down to join Meta META.O, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Just weeks ago, Yang was appointed head of a team called Answers, Knowledge and Information, or AKI, which is central to the Siri voice assistant's overhaul, planned for March, the report said.

Apple, Meta and Yang did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Yang has been with Apple since 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Meta has intensified Silicon Valley's talent war through aggressive hiring aiming to challenge rivals, including OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, as the tech firms pour significant investment into AI in the race to superintelligence.

The Mark Zuckerberg-led company had poached top AI executives from the iPhone maker before, including Ruoming Pang, as earlier reported by Bloomberg News. Bloomberg News also reported that Robby Walker left Apple, without specifying a new employer.

(Reporting by Ruchika Khanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

((Ruchika.Khanna@thomsonreuters.com))