"Meta AI chief Alexandr Wang noted in a memo that the company is looking to streamline the greater AI department. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," he wrote, as quoted by Axios. It's a notable new development, considering Zuckerberg has personally led an aggressive hiring spree earlier this year, trying to court AI talent by offering workers up to $1 billion, multi-year job contracts. (The company says it's continuing to hire for its TBD Lab, which was created last month to work on next-generation AI models, and encouraging the culled Superintelligence workers to apply for other roles within Meta.)"
"Still, it's a sign of turmoil at Meta, which has been swept up in the heated AI race, spending copious amounts to secure talent. In June, the company paid $15 billion for a 49 percent stake in Scale AI, appointing then-CEO Wang as the lead of its own AI efforts, and onboarding a number of the company's 1,500 staffers. In July, Zuckerberg announced Meta's Superintelligence AI lab, as part of a poorly-defined effort to create a "personal superintelligence" that "helps you achieve your goals.""
"Less than a month later, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was freezing AI hiring as part of a "basic organizational planning" process. At the time, Meta split the Superintelligence team into four teams, including its TBD Lab. A separate AI safety-focused team, dubbed FAIR, will also be affected by the latest layoffs. However, Zuckerberg couldn't stay away from acquiring new talent, hiring Thinking Machines cofounder Andrew Tulloch earlier this month, as well as OpenAI research scientist Ananya Kumar, per Axios ' sources."
Meta is cutting about 600 roles from its Superintelligence lab as part of a plan to streamline its broader AI organization. The company expects smaller teams to reduce decision-making overhead and increase individual impact. Culled Superintelligence staff are being encouraged to apply for other internal roles while hiring continues for the newly formed TBD Lab focused on next-generation models. The reorganization follows large investments and hires, including a $15 billion stake in Scale AI and other targeted talent acquisitions, and also affects the FAIR AI safety-focused team.
Read at Futurism
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]