Meta Strengthens AI Ambitions with Key OpenAI Hire and $14 Billion Commitment

Meta has recruited Shengjia Zhao, a former OpenAI researcher credited with co-creating ChatGPT and contributing to GPT-4's development, as chief scientist of its newly formed Meta Superintelligence Labs. The hire signals an aggressive push into artificial intelligence as CEO Mark Zuckerberg commits "hundreds of billions" to infrastructure.

Zhao will report directly to Zuckerberg and Alexandr Wang, the ex-Scale AI CEO now leading Meta's AI strategy. Internal memos reveal Zhao co-founded the lab and has served as lead scientist since inception, contrary to initial reports framing him as a recent acquisition.

The social media giant allocated $14 billion to Scale AI in recent weeks while consolidating top researchers under the Superintelligence Labs banner. Teams will focus on foundational architectures like the open-source Llama series, product development, and Core research initiatives.