Prime Highlights
- Mark Zuckerberg has established “Meta Superintelligence Labs” to create AI systems that are more intelligent than humans.
- He is providing seven- to nine-figure offers to hire top AI researchers from the industry globally.
Key Facts
- Meta’s new lab is headed by Alexandr Wang (Scale AI founder) and Nat Friedman, aimed at creating superintelligent AI systems.
- Perhaps 50 of OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic’s top researchers are already on board.
- The hiring follows delays and underwhelming reception for Meta’s previous AI systems such as Llama 4 and Behemoth.
Key Background
Meta, with Mark Zuckerberg at the helm, has formally declared that it is launching its most ambitious AI project to date, called “Meta Superintelligence Labs.” The new unit will develop Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and ultimately achieve “superintelligence”—AI more capable than humans. The venture is Zuckerberg’s own reaction to the increasing dominance of OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic.
To guarantee the success of the lab, Zuckerberg has hired Alexandr Wang, the Scale AI founder, as Meta’s new Chief AI Officer. Former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman is also leading the effort alongside him. Meta’s financial clout has allowed the firm to hire some of the world’s best minds in AI. More than 50 top engineers and researchers—several from competing companies—have signed up for the effort. These recruits have been enticed with pay packages between $5 million to $100 million or even more.
The decision comes amid mounting internal and external frustration over Meta’s AI direction. The Llama 4 model was viewed as disappointing, and the late release of Meta’s most capable LLM, codenamed Behemoth, further damaged its competitive position. Those setbacks apparently compelled Zuckerberg to take action directly, consolidating AI projects and cutting through intra-company red tape.
Zuckerberg’s ambition is not merely to create better language models—his ambition is to create the most capable AI system on the planet. He’s convinced that with Meta’s massive GPU capabilities, massive user data, and billions of dollars of revenue every year, the company has all it needs to dominate the next generation of AI breakthroughs. The new lab launched will be dedicated to creating foundation models, building up reasoning capacities, and advancing toward real AGI.
But this forceful push has not been free from controversy. Meta’s Chief AI Scientist, Yann LeCun, has, according to reports, expressed skepticism about the concept of superintelligence and even attacked current AGI approaches. Nevertheless, Zuckerberg is a true believer in this goal, being prepared to spend billions of dollars to transform Meta into the front-runner of the AI competition. Superintelligence Labs is the focal point of that drive now.
