In the high-stakes race for AI supremacy, Meta just scored a big win.
The company has successfully lured three top researchers away from OpenAI: Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai.
These three researchers weren’t just any hires, they were the brains behind OpenAI’s Zurich office.
Their move to Meta’s superintelligence team marks a major milestone in CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s aggressive bid to build the strongest AI bench in tech.
Credit: Wall Street Journal
Zuckerberg’s Personal Approach
According to The Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg isn’t leaving anything to chance.
He’s been personally messaging AI researchers via WhatsApp, inviting them to private dinners at his homes in Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe.
He even created a group chat called “Recruiting Party 🎉” to coordinate his efforts.
And the offers? Eye-popping. Some packages reportedly top $100 million.
It’s not just researchers he’s going after.
Meta recently invested a jaw-dropping $14 billion in Scale AI, bringing its CEO, Alexandr Wang, on board. That move alone made headlines across the tech world.
Sam Altman Isn’t Impressed, Or So He Says
OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has been vocal about Meta’s bold approach.
In a podcast chat with his brother Jack, Altman joked about the campaign:
“I’m really happy that, at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take him up on [those offers].”
But the latest exits suggest that Meta’s charm, and cash, may be working, at least to some extent.
So Who’s Really Winning?
Let’s break it down:
| Company | Strategy | Notable Gains | Misses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta | Personal outreach + huge offers | Beyer, Kolesnikov, Zhai, Alexandr Wang | Still chasing Ilya Sutskever & John Schulman |
| OpenAI | Focused on mission + tight culture | Retained core founders (so far) | Lost Zurich office team |
Why This Matters
AI talent is scarce and expensive.
The researchers building these models are shaping not just the future of tech, but of society.
Losing a few key players could slow progress for one company and supercharge it for another.
And as more companies race to build AGI (artificial general intelligence), hiring wars like this are becoming the new normal.
A Billion-Dollar Battle for Brains
If you think this is just about job switches, think again.
This is about control – who gets to define the next wave of AI innovation.
Zuckerberg clearly wants Meta to lead. Altman wants to keep OpenAI’s momentum. And other giants like Google, Anthropic, and xAI are also in the mix.
In the end, the biggest winner might not be a company but the researchers themselves, now holding more leverage than ever before.
