Meta's AI Talent War: Poaching Safe Superintelligence's CEO After Buyout Fallout

Meta's Aggressive AI Talent Acquisition Strategy

Meta Platforms (META) is making headlines with its aggressive strategy to poach top AI talent, including Daniel Gross, CEO of Safe Superintelligence, and former Github CEO Nat Friedman. This move comes after Meta's failed attempts to either hire or acquire Safe Superintelligence, led by former OpenAI research director Ilya Sutskever.

Key Developments

• Investment Firm Stake: Meta plans to acquire a stake in NFDG, the investment firm run by Gross and Friedman.
• Scale AI's CEO Joins Meta: Last week, Alexandr Wang, ex-CEO of Scale AI, announced he would join Meta's AI development team, with Meta also investing billions in Scale AI.
• Internal Frustrations: Reports suggest Mark Zuckerberg is frustrated with Meta's AI progress, leading to delays in launching the Llama 4 large language model.

Building a Superintelligence Group

Zuckerberg is reportedly assembling a "superintelligence group" at Meta's Menlo Park headquarters, aiming to accelerate AI development. This group will work closely with Zuckerberg, highlighting the urgency and importance Meta places on advancing its AI capabilities.

Market Reaction

Despite these strategic moves, Meta's shares dipped slightly, though the stock has seen a 20% gain in 2025. This reflects the market's cautious optimism about Meta's long-term AI ambitions.

Meta, Safe Superintelligence, and Gross have yet to comment on these developments.