Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is heading to everyone to build a top-tier artificial intelligence (AI) team, and is trying to bring the smartest people personally into the AI space. According to a report by WSJ, Zuckerberg sends direct messages to top researchers, developers and entrepreneurs around the world, offering huge pay packages up to $100 million.
The tech billionaire is looking to build a new “super intelligence” lab under the meta. To make this happen, he is personally involved in the employment process. In fact, he has reached out to people via email and WhatsApp messages. This is a move that surprised many candidates. One of them even thought the message was fake and didn't respond immediately.
This aggressive employment push reportedly began after Meta's recent struggle in the AI space. The company was also accused of delaying the launch of one of its new AI models earlier this year, offering performance data that looked better than the model looked. These incidents raised concerns about whether Meta is behind in a fast-moving AI race, particularly as companies such as Openai and Google are moving forward.
To change the situation, Zuckerberg is now playing the role of the chief recruiter himself. He approached several big names in the AI field, including Openai's co-founder (John Schulman and Bill Peebles) and other experts from top companies. Some seem to have rejected the offer because they have not yet participated or resigned, but the debate continues with others. In one case, Meta reportedly offered to get a startup just to have the team mounted. In another case, Zuckerberg is said to have spent more than $14 billion to bring the CEO of a startup called Scale AI into the team.
These are not regular job openings. Some candidates are offered a $100 million (approximately 860 crore) compensation package, making them the highest-paid high-tech employer to date, according to the report. Despite the money, not everyone is sure. Some people trying to hire Meta are unsure about the company's current AI direction and structure. Meta has experienced multiple internal re-shuffles, causing confusion as to who is leading what.
Another reason for hesitation among potential recruiting is Meta's chief AI scientist Yann Lecun. Many companies focus on large-scale language models (LLM) to achieve superhuman AI, but Lecun doesn't think this is the right path. This difference of opinion within the meta is to have some experts think twice before participating.
Still, Zuckerberg is very active and personally invests in building this AI dream team. He is part of a WhatsApp group called “Recruit Party” with Meta's top HR staff and discusses employment strategies. When someone is a finalist, Zuckerberg often sends his first message himself. If the person responds positively, he invites him to a private meeting.
He also promises that resources will not be an issue in the meta. With billions of dollars of advertising revenue and access to modern AI chips, Zuckerberg wants to ensure participants don't have to worry about the power of funding or computing. He believes this strong foundation will attract talent who wants to tackle the next level of AI products.
However, other companies are also trying to maintain their top mindset. Openai, for example, reportedly made a counter offer that was appealing to those whom Meta tried to poach. Openai CEO Sam Altman even said none of the top team members have left the meta before.
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