After poaching talent from OpenAI and Google, Meta pauses hiring in its AI team

Meta

Meta has put a freeze on hiring in its artificial intelligence division, just weeks after aggressively pulling in top talent from rivals like OpenAI, Google and Apple. The company has added more than 50 researchers and engineers to its AI ranks this year, often luring them with huge pay packages.

The hiring pause began last week and is part of a broader restructuring inside Meta’s AI group. According to reports, the freeze not only stops new external hires but also prevents current employees from moving between teams in the division. Any exceptions will need approval from Meta’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed the freeze, calling it “basic organizational planning.” The company, they said, is working on building a solid structure for its superintelligence efforts while also doing routine budgeting and planning for the year.

Meta has reorganized its AI division into four teams: one focusing on superintelligence (called TBD Lab), another on AI products, a third on infrastructure, and a fourth dedicated to long-term projects under Fundamental AI Research. This restructuring follows criticism earlier this year after Meta’s large language model, Llama, underperformed expectations.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has become personally involved in Meta’s AI hiring spree, reaching out directly to researchers at top labs and in some cases offering massive compensation packages. Reports say offers to some recruits ran into hundreds of millions of dollars, with one deal valued as high as $1.5 billion.

The pause comes as investors grow wary of the enormous costs tied to the AI talent war. Analysts have warned that the rising stock-based compensation used to attract researchers could hurt shareholder returns if the spending doesn’t lead to real breakthroughs.

For now, Meta seems focused on stabilizing and structuring its AI team before charging ahead with its superintelligence ambitions.