Zuckerberg’s expensive AI hires already ditching Meta

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Meta’s ambitious plans to dominate the AI race are facing a significant setback as several top-tier researchers, lured by multi-million-dollar pay packages, are reportedly leaving the company just months after joining.

The rapid turnover at Meta’s Superintelligence Labs (MSL), a “moonshot” project unveiled by CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier this year, highlights the challenges of building a cohesive, mission-driven team through financial incentives alone.

Among the high-profile departures is Rishabh Agarwal, a machine-learning scientist from Google DeepMind, who announced his exit after just five months at Meta despite a reported $1 million salary.

In a post on X, Agarwal cited a desire to “take on a different kind of risk” and notably quoted Zuckerberg himself, saying: “In a world that’s changing so fast, the biggest risk you can take is not taking any risk.”

Other key recruits, including former OpenAI researchers Avi Verma and Ethan Knight, have also reportedly left Meta to return to their former employer. Longtime Meta executives, including generative AI leaders Chaya Nayak and Loredana Crisan, have also departed.

The exodus suggests that while Meta is willing to spend massive sums – reportedly offering packages in the hundreds of millions to lure talent from rivals like OpenAI, DeepMind and Apple – money may not be enough to retain top AI minds.

Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind, has previously stated that leading researchers are motivated by a desire to “steward the technology safely into the world”, rather than simply chase salaries. This sentiment was echoed by Anthropic co-founder Benjamin Mann, who stated his best-case scenario at Anthropic was to “affect the future of humanity,” while at Meta, it was to “make money.”

The turnover comes amid internal restructuring and shifting priorities at MSL, raising questions about the stability of Zuckerberg’s grand AI vision.

For Zuckerberg, who has publicly positioned himself as a bold risk-taker, the irony is sharp as his own words are used by his hires to justify their departure.

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