Mark Zuckerberg is now personally overseeing the hiring of artificial intelligence specialists at Meta, offering more incredible rewards and even possible acquisitions of startups. The company's goal is to catch up with rivals and close gaps in the development of its own AI systems, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Meta has undergone a series of restructurings this year after criticism over delays in releasing new AI models and allegations of manipulation. In April, the company faced criticism over its use of LM Arena’s Chatbot Arena rankings, which a study found allowed AI developers to manipulate their models’ performance tests. Meta privately tested 27 model variants on Chatbot Arena between January and March, just before the release of Llama 4. At the time of the announcement, the company only released the results of one model—the one that topped the Chatbot Arena rankings.
In response to these failures, Zuckerberg has spent the past few months sending personal emails and WhatsApp messages to top researchers, infrastructure engineers, and startup founders, offering some candidates compensation in excess of $100 million or discussing buying their projects.
To organize the hiring process, Zuckerberg created a private WhatsApp chat called "Recruiting Party 🎉" with Meta's hiring managers. He personally reviews candidates' academic publications, hosts dinners with them at Meta's residences in Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe, and even plans where their desks will be.
Meta promises its chosen employees access to unlimited computing power and funding from its huge advertising revenue. However, candidates fear frequent restructuring and uncertainty in the company’s leadership. Adding to the controversy is the position of Meta’s chief AI scientist, Yann Lecoun, who doubts that the current approach to large language models will lead to true “superintelligence.”
Zuckerberg is tasking the new team of about 50 people with achieving “colossal breakthroughs” to create AI that surpasses human intelligence. But with counterproposals from OpenAI and stiff competition, Meta’s chances of success remain uncertain.
Potential hires included OpenAI co-founders John Shulman and Ilya Sutzkever, as well as Sora video generator developer Bill Peebles. Meta also invested $14 billion in startup Scale AI, whose CEO, 28-year-old Alexander Wang, has been named head of a new “Superintelligence Lab.” However, most of the AI experts Zuckerberg invited declined to join Meta, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman says key employees are staying on his team.
"So far, none of our best specialists have agreed to these proposals," Altman jokingly noted at a recent industry conference.
Meta declined further comment, citing the standard assessment of a "beneficial partnership" and confidence in the further development of AI.