Meta Appoints Ex-OpenAI Scientist to Lead AI Superintelligence Lab

Meta has brought on Shengjia Zhao, a former OpenAI researcher and co-author of the original ChatGPT paper, to lead its Superintelligence AI Lab as Chief Scientist.This move shows Meta’s strong commitment to advancing artificial intelligence.

Zhao, who started at Meta in June, helped create OpenAI’s first reasoning model, o1, which introduced the popular “chain-of-thought” method now used across the AI industry.On Threads, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared that Zhao’s leadership role is now official, thanks to the company’s success in building a top-notch AI team.

Zhao works under Alexandr Wang, Meta’s Chief AI Officer and former Scale AI CEO, who is driving the company’s goal of creating artificial general intelligence (AGI)—systems that can think and solve problems like humans. The Superintelligence Lab is separate from Meta’s FAIR research group, led by Yann LeCun, with Wang overseeing both efforts.

• Meta Taps Former OpenAI Researcher Shengjia Zhao to Lead AI Superintelligence Lab
• Mark Zuckerberg Assembles Elite AI Team for AGI Push with New Chief Scientist Zhao
• Meta Accelerates AI Race with 'Behemoth' Model and Talent from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic

This summer, Meta has been on a hiring spree, bringing in over a dozen experts from companies like OpenAI, Google, Apple, and Anthropic, including names like Jiahui Yu and Trapit Bansal. Zuckerberg himself has been reaching out to candidates, offering big compensation packages to attract the best talent.

Meta’s current AI model, LLaMA 4, isn’t yet on par with rivals like OpenAI’s GPT-4 or Google’s Gemini, but excitement is growing for “Behemoth,” a new model expected to launch later this year. Zuckerberg is optimistic, saying, “We are building an elite team to push the frontiers of superintelligence research.” With Zhao’s expertise and a growing team of AI stars, Meta is gearing up to compete at the forefront of AI innovation.