Meta is aggressively recruiting top AI talent in Silicon Valley as it seeks to keep pace with rivals OpenAI and Google. Mark Zuckerberg has placed AI development at the top of the company's priority list, investing heavily in staff and data centers. The company has made several key hires, including Ruoming Pang, the former head of Apple's foundation models, who joined Meta's Superintelligence team with a compensation package worth over $200 million.
Other notable hires include Mark Lee, an Apple AI researcher who has started working at Meta, and Tom Gunter, a distinguished engineer at Apple who will join Meta soon. Meta has also added researchers Jason Wei and Hyung Won Chung from OpenAI to its team. These hires are part of Meta's efforts to develop advanced AI reasoning models and agents that can compete at the highest level.
Meta's aggressive recruitment strategy includes offering lucrative compensation packages, sometimes exceeding $100 million in signing bonuses and total compensation per year. This approach has raised concerns at OpenAI, with CEO Sam Altman claiming Meta is settling for second-tier hires and acting "in a way that feels somewhat distasteful". Despite this, Meta's stock hit a record high following the news of these hires.
The recruitment drive is part of Meta's efforts to catch up with its rivals after the tepid reception of its Llama 4 AI model. By consolidating foundational AI research and product development under Superintelligence Labs, Meta aims to develop cutting-edge AI technology that can compete with the best in the industry.
