Former OpenAI researcher Shengjia Zhao has been appointed as the Chief Scientist of the newly formed division of Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) Zhao played a vital role in the creation of ChatGPT and GPT-4 as well as OpenAI’s reasoning model, o1.
MSL CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the updates through Threads, highlighting Zhao’s leadership since the formation of the lab. He stated, “Shengjia co-founded the new lab and has been our lead scientist from day one. We’ve now formalized his role as our team continues to grow.”
A Significant Leap Towards AI Superintelligence
Meta has increased focus on new AI applications, as Zhao’s guidance in the newly formed lab allows the company to compete with rivals OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic on the frontier AI model development.
Zhao will report to the newly appointed head of the lab, Alexandr Wang. Wang, the former CEO of Scale AI, does not possess a research background, which makes the team unbalanced. Zhao’s appointment balances the team with strong technical leadership which will help guide the lab’s research strategy.
Why Shengjia Zhao Matters
Zhao is no ordinary Appointee. While at OpenAI, he:
- Worked on Chat GPT and GPT-4 alongside some other of the most recognized AI tools.
- Assisted with developing o1, OpenAI’s first AI model with reasoning capabilities.
- Advanced what metaverse Zuckeberg labeled as a ‘new scaling paradigm’ in AI.
Zhao worked in close collaboration with OpenAI’s co-founder and former chief scientist, Illya Sutskever.
Meta Star-Studded AI Hiring Spree
Zhao, however, is not the only one. Also hired by Meta is:
- Prominent OpenAI researchers Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, and Hongyu Ren.
- Zhao’s former colleague at OpenAI, Trapit Bansal.
- A multimodality research team from the Zurich office of OpenAI.
- Leading specialists from Google DeepMind, Apple, Safe Superintelligence, and Anthropic.
These complete the MSL’s leadership and increase its technical capabilities.
An Expanding AI Empire Within Meta
Meta now has three principal operating AI divisions:
- Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) – tasked with the development of advanced frontier models.
- Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) – led by AI innovator Yann LeCun focused on long-term research.
- Generative AI unit – developing the Meta AI and creative assistant functionalities.
It is not known yet how these teams will work together, but it is clear with Zhao and LeCun in charge of two central labs, Meta is building its AI leadership team.
Major Spending on AI Infrastructure
Meta is augmenting its computer infrastructure to support these strategic goals.
Zhao and his team at MSL will gain access to Prometheus by 2026, which is a massive 1-gigawatt cloud compute cluster located in Ohio. This scale of infrastructure fulfills the following criteria:
- Matches energy usage for 750,000 homes.
- Supports massive training runs needed for next-gen AI models.
- Puts Meta among the few tech giants with this level of compute firepower.
Behind the Scenes: How Meta Is Building MSL
Zuckerberg has always looked to be more hands-on which is why he has been personally reaching out to MSL with:
- Direct emails to high-profile researchers.
- Hosting private recruitment events at his Lake Tahoe estate.
- Offering eye-popping compensation packages, some in the eight- and nine-figure range.
- Using “exploding offers” — time-limited contracts designed to speed up hiring.
This level of urgency is a clear sign that Meta is looking to take charge in the world of artificial intelligence.
Why AI Reasoning Models Matter
Zhao is one of the many researchers Meta is interested in because of the goal of building advanced reasoning AI.
OpenAI’s o1 was the first model built for reasoning from the ground up. As of now, Meta has not issued a true contender to this space. By hiring those who helped build o1, Meta is betting big on catching up and possibly surpassing OpenAI.
What’s On Deck For Meta Superintelligence Labs?
With Zhao officially in place, Meta’s MSL is moving full speed ahead. Its mission:
“Create world-class AI models that can think, reason, and solve problems.”
Meta is looking to construct more than dialog systems and virtual aides. The goal is to lay the groundwork for Artificial General Intelligence. And with new mid-level hires, expanding infrastructure, and a fresh recruiting drive, it’s nearer than ever.
Key Takeaways
- Shengjia Zhao is now Chief Scientist at Meta’s AI superintelligence division, MSL.
- Zhao played a major role in building ChatGPT, GPT-4, and OpenAI’s o1 reasoning model.
- With Zhao guiding research, Alexandr Wang, previously with Scale AI is head of MSL.
- Meta is actively poaching DeepMind, OpenAI, Apple, and other firms.
- MSL is about to utilize Prometheus, a 1-gigawatt AI training cluster.
- Meta now has two chief AI scientists. Tsao (MSL) and Yann LeCun (FAIR)
The company is racing to build reasoning models to rival OpenAI.
Zhao’s appointment turns Meta Superintelligence Labs into one of the most closely tracked AI divisions worldwide.