Zuckerberg announces Meta ‘superintelligence’ effort, more hires

(Bloomberg/Kurt Wagner) — Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced a major restructuring of the company’s artificial intelligence group, including a commitment to developing AI “superintelligence,” or systems that can complete tasks as well as or even better than humans.

Zuckerberg wrote Monday to employees that Meta’s AI efforts will fall under a new group called Meta Superintelligence Labs, which will be led by Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of data-labeling startup Scale AI, according to an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg. Wang, whom Zuckerberg called the “most impressive founder of his generation,” will serve as chief AI officer.

Nat Friedman, the former CEO of Github, will “partner with Alex to lead” the group, Zuckerberg continued, and head Meta’s work on AI products and applied research. Bloomberg previously reported on Zuckerberg’s effort to recruit a new superintelligence group.

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“As the pace of AI progress accelerates, developing superintelligence is coming into sight,” Zuckerberg wrote in the internal post. “I believe this will be the beginning of a new era for humanity, and I am fully committed to doing what it takes for Meta to lead the way.”

AI has become Zuckerberg’s top focus this year as he competes with rivals like OpenAI and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to develop state-of-the-art models and AI assistants that he hopes will one day become ubiquitous. That investment has come in the form of infrastructure, such as chips and data centers, and in recruiting personnel and acquisitions.

Earlier this month Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI and hired Wang in the process. Meta has also held deal talks with Perplexity AI Inc. and Runway AI Inc., and is expected to acquire PlayAI, a small startup using artificial intelligence to replicate voices.

In addition to the newly structured team, Zuckerberg announced 11 new hires in the AI space, including researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. The group includes former DeepMind researchers Jack Rae and Pei Sun; several OpenAI researchers, including Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, Shengjia Zhao and Hongyu Ren; and Anthropic’s Joel Pobar, who previously worked at Meta for over a decade. Bloomberg previously reported some of these hires.

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