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(Bloomberg) — Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced a major restructuring of the company\u2019s artificial intelligence group, including a commitment to developing AI \u201csuperintelligence,\u201d or systems that can complete tasks as well as or even better than humans.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Zuckerberg wrote Monday to employees that Meta\u2019s AI efforts will fall under a new group called Meta Superintelligence Labs, or MSL, 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 \u201cmost impressive founder of his generation,\u201d will serve as chief AI officer.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Nat Friedman, the former CEO of Github, will \u201cpartner with Alex to lead\u201d the group, Zuckerberg continued, and head Meta\u2019s work on AI products and applied research. Bloomberg previously reported on Zuckerberg\u2019s effort to recruit a new superintelligence group.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cAs the pace of AI progress accelerates, developing superintelligence is coming into sight,\u201d Zuckerberg wrote in the internal post. \u201cI 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.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Meta will spend \u201chundreds of billions\u201d on AI projects and research in the years to come, Zuckerberg has said, though the Facebook founder also expects that many firms will likely overspend on AI in an effort to avoid missing the wave. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a meaningful chance that a lot of the companies are overbuilding now,\u201d he said last summer. \u201cBut on the flip side, I actually think all the companies that are investing are making a rational decision, because the downside of being behind is that you\u2019re out of position for, like, the most important technology for the next 10 to 15 years.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Meta shares were little changed at 2:30 p.m. in New York, after reaching an all-time high of $747.90 earlier in the day.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The new MSL unit will include the company\u2019s existing teams focused on large language models, which is the technology that underpins generative AI, as well as AI products, and the Fundamental AI Research team, known as FAIR. Meta is also creating a \u201cnew lab focused on developing the next generation of our models,\u201d Zuckerberg wrote.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
AI has become Zuckerberg\u2019s top focus this year as he competes with rivals like OpenAI and Alphabet Inc.\u2019s Google to develop state-of-the-art models and AI assistants that he hopes will one day become ubiquitous. That spending has come in the form of infrastructure, such as chips and data centers, and in recruiting personnel and acquisitions.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Zuckerberg has worked personally to recruit talent for Meta\u2019s AI teams. He\u2019s hosted potential hires at his homes in Palo Alto, California, and Lake Tahoe and has been leading much of the initial outreach himself. Meta has offered some researchers compensation packages, including stock awards, in the tens of millions of dollars \u2014 a sign of Meta\u2019s commitment to AI, and the competition in the industry.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In addition to the newly structured team, Zuckerberg announced 11 new hires for the group, including researchers and software engineers 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\u2019s Joel Pobar, a software engineer who previously worked at Meta for over a decade. Bloomberg previously reported some of these hires. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n