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Meta Accelerates Superintelligence Effort With Fresh Hires, Scale AI Layoffs

Record-breaking compensation packages are central to Meta’s strategy to outpace rival labs in its quest for superintelligence.

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Scale AI logo
Vancouver hosted one of the world’s top AI research conferences this week—drawing thousands of PhDs, professors, and Big Tech recruiters.
A pedestrian walks past technology startup Scale AI office in San Francisco. The company laid off 14% of its workforce just weeks after Meta invested $14.3 billion and hired its CEO Alexndr Wang.

Overview

  • Meta has poached Apple AI researchers Mark Lee and Tom Gunter, adding to the defections of OpenAI veterans Jason Wei and Hyung Won Chung to its Superintelligence Labs.
  • The company is investing heavily in multigigawatt compute infrastructure, including the Prometheus supercluster and the planned Hyperion facility.
  • One month after Meta’s $14.3 billion investment for a 49 percent stake, Scale AI cut about 200 employees and 500 contractors—roughly 14 percent of its workforce—to streamline its generative AI operations.
  • Some hires have received multiyear compensation packages exceeding $100 million as Meta competes for elite talent from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic and Apple.
  • Competing labs like OpenAI and Google DeepMind have announced retention measures and pay adjustments in response to Meta’s aggressive recruitment push.