Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has reorganized the company’s AI projects into a new division called “Meta Superintelligence Labs.” The lab is headed by Alexandr Wang, former CEO of the data-labeling company Scale AI. He will also serve as the chief AI officer for Meta’s new AI initiative.
The goal of this move is to accelerate the development of machines that surpass human intelligence, and to create new revenue streams through Meta AI applications, image-to-video advertising tools, and smart glasses.
Recently, Zuckerberg has been actively recruiting top talent. For example, collaboration with Safe Superintelligence (SSI), a startup co-founded by OpenAI’s Ilya Sutskever, has been discussed. Additionally, Meta has invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI.
Alongside Scale AI experts, the new division will include Daniel Gross, co-founder and CEO of SSI. Former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman will co-lead the lab with Wang and oversee the development of Meta’s AI products.
Meta’s team has been strengthened with prominent researchers from major companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Notable members include Jack Rae and Pei Sun from DeepMind, Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, Shengjia Zhao from OpenAI, and Joel Pobar from Anthropic.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has revealed that Meta offered $100 million in bonuses to recruit his employees.
Experts believe that Meta’s bet on artificial general intelligence may not yield significant returns in the short term. Since 2020, Meta’s Reality Labs division has spent over $60 billion but has produced mainly smart glasses and virtual reality devices.
This year, major tech companies are expected to spend around $320 billion on AI. For example, in 2024 Microsoft acquired most of Inflection AI’s staff for $650 million, while Amazon hired key talent from Adept.
However, achieving artificial general intelligence remains a distant goal. Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun says current methods are insufficient to reach this level, while SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son predicts the breakthrough could happen within ten years.
