Meta plans to create a new artificial intelligence research lab focused on developing superintelligence — a system capable of surpassing human intelligence. The New York Times reports that Scale AI founder and CEO Alexander Wang will join the team, and Meta is in talks to invest billions of dollars in his company.
The lab will be part of a major reorganization of Meta’s AI division under Mark Zuckerberg. According to sources, the company has offered generous compensation packages to OpenAI and Google employees, some of whom have already agreed to move.
Since 2022, following the release of ChatGPT, Meta has been actively integrating AI into its products, including smart glasses and the Meta AI app. In May, Zuckerberg said that over a billion users interact with Meta AI every month.
Meta aims to move beyond AGI (artificial general intelligence) and toward superintelligence, a system that surpasses human cognitive capabilities. The company hopes Wang's addition will help it stay competitive in the face of Microsoft's $13 billion investment in OpenAI and Amazon's $8 billion investment in Anthropic.
Meta is also continuing its open-source strategy for its AI development. In April, it released new versions of its Llama models, but their results were criticized by the community for questionable tests. According to the NYT, this caused dissatisfaction with Zuckerberg himself.
As for the Scale AI deal, it could be structured to circumvent antitrust restrictions. Meta is already under pressure from regulators over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.