Meta AI Research Chief Joelle Pineau Announces Departure

Pineau's exit, effective May 30, raises uncertainty as Meta accelerates its $65 billion AI investment strategy.

Joelle Pineau, head of Meta's Fundamental AI Research group (FAIR), will step down after eight years with the company.
Meta has not yet named a successor, leaving a key leadership gap during its aggressive AI expansion efforts.
Pineau played a pivotal role in advancing Meta's open-source AI initiatives, including the Llama language model and PyTorch framework.
Her departure comes as Meta prepares for its inaugural LlamaCon conference on April 29, where updates on Llama 4 are anticipated.
Meta faces heightened competition from AI rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, as well as emerging Chinese players like DeepSeek.