Hajra Naz
In the ongoing battle for top AI minds, Meta has scored a notable win—hiring three key researchers away from OpenAI. Despite OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s public jabs at Mark Zuckerberg’s aggressive recruitment tactics, the move shows Meta’s strategy is gaining traction.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai—who were responsible for launching OpenAI’s Zurich office—have now joined Meta’s superintelligence team. Their defection marks the latest success in Zuckerberg’s much-talked-about push to build an elite AI force.
As Altman recently shared in a podcast with his brother Jack, Zuckerberg has been offering compensation packages exceeding $100 million to lure top researchers. The Journal also reported that Zuckerberg is personally reaching out to AI scientists via WhatsApp and even hosting private dinners at his homes in Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe. Internally, he’s organizing efforts through a group chat dubbed the “Recruiting Party.”
The results, so far, are a mix of wins and near misses. Meta recently secured a $14 billion investment deal with Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang—making him one of the highest-valued hires in tech history. But some high-profile targets remain out of reach. OpenAI co-founders Ilya Sutskever and John Schulman, for instance, have chosen to launch their ventures rather than join Meta.
In the podcast, Altman seemed unfazed by Zuckerberg’s high-dollar offers. “I’m really happy that, at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take him up on [those offers],” he said.
Still, with key talent now shifting to Meta, the competition for AI leadership continues to heat up.
