Washington, United States (Enmaeya News) — Meta is losing members of its highly touted “superintelligence” artificial intelligence teams, despite CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s aggressive campaign to recruit top global talent, Business Insider reported.
At least eight employees have recently departed following Meta’s latest internal restructuring. The exits come after months of heavy spending by the company to attract rare AI expertise, with some recruits reportedly receiving compensation packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Meta defended the turnover, saying that staff changes are natural for a company of its size. A spokesperson added that many of the newer hires had worked with the company for a significant period.
Still, reports suggest the spending spree has fueled tensions inside Meta. Veteran employees were reportedly frustrated by the enormous rewards given to new recruits, creating resentment within teams.
The departures highlight the challenges facing Zuckerberg as he seeks to build what Meta calls its “superintelligence” initiative. At Meta Connect 2024, Zuckerberg unveiled the Orion AR glasses, underscoring the company’s push to link advanced hardware with cutting-edge AI.
Several of the employees who left have already landed high-profile roles at other companies. Chi Hao Wu, an AI and machine learning specialist, is joining the startup Memories.Ai as its chief AI officer. Shaya Nayak has moved to OpenAI, while senior engineer Afroz Mohiuddin—who joined Meta last year after more than 14 years at Google—also left for OpenAI to join its technical team.
Other reports suggest a pattern of quick departures. According to Wired, some engineers stayed at Meta for less than a month before returning to OpenAI. A number of others left to join Periodic Labs, a startup founded by former engineers from OpenAI and Google.
The exits raise questions about Meta’s ability to retain the high-value talent it has invested so heavily in. While Zuckerberg continues to pour resources into building a leading AI team, rivals like OpenAI and other startups remain attractive destinations for top engineers.
