Meta’s aggressive push to bolster its artificial intelligence capabilities shows no signs of slowing down. Recent industry reports reveal the tech giant made bold moves to recruit top AI talent, including attempting to acquire an emerging industry leader in the field.
Sources indicate that Mark Zuckerberg’s company recently pursued Safe Superintelligence Inc., the $32 billion AI research organization co-created by Ilya Sutskever, a pivotal figure in OpenAI’s early development. Industry analysts note this attempted acquisition marks Meta’s most ambitious talent play to date, though Sutskever ultimately declined the offer.
Undeterred by this setback, Meta continues negotiating with other key figures in the AI space. Multiple reports confirm ongoing discussions to bring aboard Daniel Gross, co-founder and current CEO of Safe Superintelligence. The company is also courting former GitHub chief executive Nat Friedman, with plans reportedly in place to acquire a strategic stake in their collaborative investment platform NFDG Holdings.
These potential hires follow Meta’s recent success in recruiting Scale AI’s leadership team, including CEO Alexandr Wang and several senior executives. Observers suggest these personnel moves aim to create an unprecedented concentration of AI expertise within Meta’s research division.
Industry insiders highlight that Gross and Friedman would bring distinct complementary strengths – combining hands-on experience managing advanced AI projects with deep connections across Silicon Valley’s investment ecosystem. Their NFDG venture already backs several high-profile AI startups including conversational AI platform Character.AI and AI-powered search engine Perplexity.
Meta’s talent acquisition strategy appears focused on building what company documents describe as “next-generation cognitive architectures.” Internal communications suggest these efforts aim to develop general-purpose AI systems capable of complex reasoning and autonomous problem-solving, positioning Meta at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation.