Meta Adds Key OpenAI Experts With AI Race Heating Up
The hard fight over AI talent got hotter with the exit of two big names from OpenAI. Experts Jason Wei and Hyung Won Chun left to work at Meta's top AI lab, marking a big shift of brains to other firms.
Why These Changes Matter
Jason Wei and Hyung Won Chun are big AI names. Before they joined OpenAI in 2023, they were with Google's Brain team. At OpenAI, Wei helped make smarter AI models, and Chun did deep studies, both making models like o3 and o1 better. Their move to Meta shows how hard Meta is working to bring in the best AI minds.
Meta's Big Money Move for AI Goals
This rush to hire is part of Meta's big plan to lead in full AI power. They are putting a lot of money in three main areas to catch up with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.
Getting the Best People: Meta's AI Lab is pulling in top experts by offering big pay. Reports say top roles can earn up to $1.4 million, with some talks of $300 million over four years (which Meta says isn't true).
Putting Money in Data: Meta just paid $14.3 billion to Scale AI, a startup that works on making data better for training complex AI.
Building Big Tech: Meta is making huge data spots to run its AI dreams. Its coming "Prometheus" spot will use 500,000 NVIDIA GPUs and lots of power, with plans for an even bigger project named "Hyperion."
Doubts and OpenAI's Problem
Even with all this spending, some top people doubt Meta's plan. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on a podcast, "I don't think this company is good at new ideas," pointing to Meta's many shifts. Some say Meta's $50 billion metaverse spend shows few payoffs, which worries them.
For OpenAI, keeping its top people is key. It has to stop them from moving to keep its edge. This shift of talent to other firms could affect its projects a lot.