Meta Attracts Top OpenAI Researchers in Ongoing AI Talent Race

Meta appears to have made another major move in the artificial intelligence arms race by reportedly recruiting two of OpenAI’s leading researchers, Jason Wei and Hyung Won Chung, to its recently launched Superintelligence Lab, according to a report by Wired.

Two sources familiar with the matter told Wired that both Wei and Chung have deactivated their internal OpenAI Slack profiles, further fueling speculation about their departure. If confirmed, this move would mark a significant shift in AI talent from OpenAI to Meta.

AGI Aspirations and Strategic Hiring

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been aggressively pursuing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and this latest acquisition of talent underscores the company’s commitment to catching up with leaders like OpenAI. The company is reportedly offering highly attractive compensation packages to secure elite researchers.

At OpenAI, Jason Wei focused on advanced models, including o3 and deep research projects. Before joining OpenAI, he was at Google, where he contributed to chain-of-thought reasoning studies. His colleague Hyung Won Chung, who also worked with him at Google, played a key role in developing OpenAI’s o1 model and focused on research involving reasoning and intelligent agents.

Sources told Wired that the two maintained a close working relationship throughout their time at both companies. This existing synergy could be one of the key reasons Meta sought to bring them both onboard.

As Wired noted, “like World War II drafters in the U.K., [Zuckerberg] seems to have a penchant for bringing on groups who’ve worked together.”

With Wei and Chung possibly heading to Meta, the competition in building next-generation AI systems is becoming more intense than ever.