Meta Poaches OpenAI Scientist to Help Lead AI Lab

"Mark Zuckerberg has poached a high-ranking OpenAI researcher to be the research principal of Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). Yang Song, who previously led the strategic explorations team at OpenAI, is now reporting to Shengjia Zhao, another OpenAI alum who has overseen the buzzy AI effort since July, according to multiple sources. He started earlier this month. The move comes after Zuckerberg went on a hiring blitz earlier this summer, bringing in at least 11 top researchers from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic."

"Song had been at OpenAI since 2022. His research there focused on improving models' ability to process large, complex datasets across different modalities. While still a graduate student at Stanford University, he developed a breakthrough technique that helped inform the development of OpenAI's DALL-E 2 image generation model. Both he and Zhao attended Tsinghua University in Beijing as undergraduates, and worked under the same advisor, Stefano Ermon, while pursuing PhDs at Stanford."

"In a staff-wide memo sent this summer, Zuckerberg touted Zhao's impressive resume as the cocreator of ChatGPT, GPT-4, all mini models, 4.1, and o3 at OpenAI-but he did not specify Zhao's new role at Meta. In July, Zuckerberg wrote in a Threads post that while Zhao had "cofounded the lab" and "been our lead scientist from day one," Meta had decided to "formalize his leadership role" as the lab's chief scientist."

Mark Zuckerberg hired Yang Song as research principal of Meta Superintelligence Labs, and Song began earlier this month. Song previously led OpenAI's strategic explorations team and now reports to Shengjia Zhao, an OpenAI alum who has overseen the lab since July. Song joined OpenAI in 2022 and researched ways to improve models' handling of large, complex multimodal datasets; as a Stanford graduate student he developed a technique that helped inform DALL-E 2. Song and Zhao studied at Tsinghua University and pursued PhDs at Stanford under Stefano Ermon. Meta recruited at least 11 top researchers this summer, and a few MSL staff have since left, with some returning to OpenAI.

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