Billionaire Alexandr Wang leads Meta's 'super AI' team

Mark Zuckerberg announces big plans for Meta. Photo: Bloomberg .

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, announced a major restructuring of the company's artificial intelligence division on June 30, including a commitment to developing "superintelligent" AI. These are systems that can perform tasks as well as, or even better than, humans.

An internal memo said a new group called Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) will be responsible for managing Meta’s AI efforts, led by Alexandr Wang, former CEO of data labeling startup Scale AI.

Wang is known as one of the youngest billionaires in tech. Zuckerberg called him “the most impressive founder of his generation” and said he would take on the role of Meta’s chief AI officer. Working with Wang to lead the team and oversee Meta’s AI product and applied research efforts is Nat Friedman, the former CEO of GitHub.

Genius qualities made Zuckerberg invest 14 billion USD in Alexandr Wang. Photo: Meta.

In an internal post, Zuckerberg said that building superintelligence is becoming a reality as AI advances. “I believe this is the beginning of a new era for humanity, and I am fully committed to doing whatever it takes to make Meta the leader,” the CEO wrote.

According to Bloomberg , Meta will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on AI development in the coming years, like many companies to not miss this wave. Previously, the company proposed multi-digit salaries to attract talent from large corporations such as OpenAI, DeepMind, Anthropic.

Zuckerberg said that many companies may have overinvested, but he still thinks it's a reasonable decision, otherwise they will lose ground to one of the most important technologies in the next 10 to 15 years.

The new MSL division will include the company's existing teams focused on large language modeling (LLM), as well as its AI products and Fundamental AI Research group, known as FAIR. The company is also establishing a new lab dedicated to developing the next generation of its AI models.

Amid competition from rivals like OpenAI and Google, AI has become Zuckerberg’s top priority this year. Investment in AI comes in many forms, including building infrastructure (chips, data centers), recruiting talent, and making acquisitions.

Earlier in June, Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI and hired Alexandr Wang. The company is also in talks with Perplexity and Runway, and is expected to acquire PlayAI, a small startup that uses artificial intelligence to simulate speech.

Meta’s CEO personally recruited talent for these teams, personally reaching out to many potential candidates and inviting them to his homes in California and Lake Tahoe. Some researchers were offered generous compensation, including stock options, demonstrating Meta AI’s strong commitment.

In addition to the restructuring, Zuckerberg also announced 11 new hires joining the team. The new team includes Jack Rae and Pei Sun, former researchers at DeepMind, several researchers from OpenAI, including Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, Shengjia Zhao, and Hongyu Ren, and Joel Pobar from Anthropic.

Source: https://znews.vn/ty-phu-alexandr-wang-lanh-dao-nhom-sieu-ai-cua-meta-post1565211.html