Meta hires ChatGPT co-creator as chief scientist for $14B AI push

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Shengjia Zhao, co-creator of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, will serve as chief scientist of Meta Superintelligence Labs. This high-profile hire represents Meta’s aggressive push into advanced AI research, as the company positions itself to compete directly with OpenAI in the race toward artificial general intelligence.

What you should know: Zhao brings extensive experience from OpenAI’s most significant AI breakthroughs to Meta’s new superintelligence initiative.

• Beyond co-creating ChatGPT, Zhao helped build OpenAI’s GPT-4, mini models, 4.1 and o3, and previously led synthetic data development at the company.
• He will work directly with Zuckerberg and Alexandr Wang, the former Scale AI CEO who now serves as Meta’s chief AI officer.
• Zuckerberg revealed that Zhao actually co-founded Meta Superintelligence Labs and “has been our lead scientist from day one,” despite being initially listed among other new hires in a June memo.

The big picture: Meta’s multibillion-dollar AI hiring blitz reflects the company’s determination to lead the superintelligence race.

• The social media giant recently made a $14 billion investment in Scale AI as part of its broader AI talent acquisition strategy.
• Meta Superintelligence Labs, announced in June, brings together top AI researchers and engineers to work on foundation models including the open-source Llama family.
• The company plans to invest “hundreds of billions of dollars” into AI compute infrastructure, signaling massive long-term commitment to AI development.

What they’re saying: Zuckerberg praised Zhao’s contributions to the field in announcing the appointment.

• “Shengjia has already pioneered several breakthroughs including a new scaling paradigm and distinguished himself as a leader in the field,” Zuckerberg wrote in a social media post.
• “I’m looking forward to working closely with him to advance his scientific vision.”
• “The next few years are going to be very exciting!” Zuckerberg added.

Why this matters: The hire represents a significant talent acquisition from Meta’s primary AI competitor at a critical moment in the industry.

• Meta Superintelligence Labs will focus on foundation models, products, and Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research projects, directly competing with OpenAI’s research efforts.
• Zhao’s deep knowledge of OpenAI’s most advanced systems could accelerate Meta’s AI development timeline and competitive positioning.
• The move underscores how tech giants are aggressively recruiting top AI talent as the race toward superintelligence intensifies.