Pressure has been mounting at Meta for several months. In April, the company was accused of manipulating a ranking to give its Llama 4 model better results than it actually achieved. The launch of another flagship model, Behemoth, has been postponed, casting doubt on the group's ability to keep pace with the frenetic pace of innovation in AI.

In response to this criticism, Zuckerberg has turned into the chief recruiter for the AI division. He has attempted to poach several big names, such as John Schulman, co-founder of OpenAI, and Bill Peebles, the creator of Sora, OpenAI's video generator. But to no avail. It must be said that the world of advanced AI experts is tiny, and everyone knows each other.

The Super Team takes shape

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg officially announced the creation of Meta Superintelligence Labs. This new unit will bring together the teams in charge of large language models (LLMs), AI products, and the FAIR fundamental research department. A laboratory dedicated to the next generation of models is also being set up.

At the helm of this super-laboratory is Alexandr Wang, founder of Scale AI, which Meta acquired for $14.3bn. At this level, we can talk about the most expensive recruit in history. He will be supported by Nat Friedman, former CEO of GitHub, and Daniel Gross, a recognized entrepreneur in the AI ecosystem.

A flood of talent

Meta has also recruited several renowned researchers:

  • Ruoming Pang, chief engineer at Apple, who led the fundamental models team,

  • Yuanzhi Li, researcher at OpenAI,

  • Anton Bakhtin, formerly of Anthropic, where he worked on Claude,

Here is a list of Meta's recent hires: Every A.I. Researcher Who Has Joined Meta's Superintelligence Team | Observer


Pang's departure could also herald a wave of defections from Apple's AI division. Several team members are considering following suit, according to internal sources.

A race against time

Zuckerberg makes no secret about his ambitions. According to Bloomberg, he has repeatedly told his teams that he wants to offer the best AI on the market by the end of the year. He is also touting a future data center with several gigawatts of power, which could become one of the most powerful in the world.

"I believe this will be the beginning of a new era for humanity, and I am fully committed to doing what it takes to ensure that Meta leads the way," he wrote to his employees in an internal memo.

So, is this all-out offensive a sign of a strategic leap forward or panic in disguise? A mad rush for talent or a long-term stroke of genius? Only time will tell.