[News] Meta’s Superintelligence Labs Reportedly Hit by Exits After Aggressive AI Hiring Push

As Meta advances its AI ambitions, its Superintelligence Labs is already encountering early turbulence. According to Business Insider, at least eight employees—including researchers, engineers, and a senior product leader—have departed less than two months after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch of the new Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL).

The report indicates that most of those who left were veteran staff who had played key roles in building Meta’s core AI infrastructure. The report also notes that the influx of highly paid new hires has fueled tensions, particularly among longtime employees who were at Meta before the superintelligence initiative began.

To build out the new superintelligence unit, Meta has reportedly offered compensation packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars while recruiting talent from firms such as OpenAI and Google DeepMind, the report highlights.

Alongside company veterans, the recent exits also included newer hires. As the report indicates, citing Wired, researchers Avi Verma and Ethan Knight left MSL in under a month and returned to OpenAI, where they had both previously worked.

From Talent Rush to Hiring Freeze: Meta’s AI Gamble

Meanwhile, Meta’s aggressive hiring spree is already showing signs of slowing. According to The Wall Street Journal, sources indicate the company has put a freeze on recruitment in its artificial intelligence division after months of hiring more than 50 AI researchers and engineers.

While all of the leading AI companies have been actively hiring talents this year, Meta has been the most aggressive, the report points out. Citing an analyst, Wall Street Journal indicates that the scale of big tech firms’ investments is raising concerns, with some highlighting Meta’s rapidly increasing stock-based compensation costs as a potential risk to shareholder returns.

Meta Doubles Down on AI With $10B+ Google Cloud Deal and Data Center Push

Meta is pressing ahead with its AI ambitions despite the hiring freeze. According to Reuters, sources say the company has signed a six-year cloud deal with Google worth over $10 billion. Under the agreement, Meta will use Google Cloud’s servers, storage, networking, and related services.

In addition, Bloomberg notes that President Donald Trump said Meta plans to invest $50 billion in its massive Louisiana data center. The company, however, has only stated publicly that the investment in the data center will exceed $10 billion, the report points out.

Read more

• [News] Meta Reshapes AI Division in Superintelligence Push Amid Talent War and Heavy Spending
• [News] Meta’s Poaching Effort at Ex-OpenAI CTO’s Startup Fails as AI Talent War Escalates

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