Particle.news
Download on the App Store
22 ARTICLES
·
8h ago

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.

Image
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.