What is Meta Super Intelligence Labs? Why is Mark Zuckerberg’s company poaching OpenAI employees? All you need to know

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg has announced the company’s latest artificial intelligence push in an internal memo, unveiling a new division called Meta Superintelligence Labs. The division will be headed by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang. Notably, Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI last month in a bid to strengthen its AI offerings amid the lukewarm reception of its Llama 4 models and rising competition in the AI race.

The new division will reportedly be co-led by former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, who will oversee the company’s work on AI products and applied research. SSI co-founder and CEO Daniel Gross will also be part of the new division.

According to Reuters, Zuckerberg has brought in 11 new hires in the AI field, including researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.

What is the purpose of Zuckerberg’s new AI group?

According to a Bloomberg report citing the internal memo, Zuckerberg stated that the new Superintelligence Labs will be committed to developing “superintelligence” systems that can complete tasks as well as, or even better than, humans.

> “As the pace of AI progress accelerates, developing superintelligence is coming into sight,” Zuckerberg wrote in the internal post.

“I believe this will be the beginning of a new era for humanity, and I am fully committed to doing what it takes for Meta to lead the way,” he added.

Why is Meta poaching OpenAI employees?

As the AI race heats up, demand for top talent in the field has skyrocketed. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed that Meta has been offering his employees signing bonuses of up to $100 million to join its AI efforts.

Meta has been ramping up its recruitment from OpenAI and Google. While Anthropic is also a major rival in the field, a Wired report revealed that the AI startup is thought to be less of a culture fit at Meta.