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Meta poaches three OpenAI researchers, WSJ reports

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Meta has recruited three researchers from OpenAI's Zurich office as part of its efforts to bolster its 'superintelligence' team.

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Meta has recruited three researchers from OpenAI—Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai—who were previously based in the ChatGPT creator’s Zurich office, according to a Wall Street Journal report. These hirings are part of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s push to bolster the company’s 'superintelligence' team, a move that follows OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's allegations that Meta is aggressively offering bonuses, reportedly up to $100 million, to lure away OpenAI staff. This development comes amid Meta’s efforts to recover from previous setbacks, including staff departures and delays in launching competitive open-source AI models. As part of its broader strategy to spearhead artificial general intelligence (AGI), Meta has also brought on board Alexandr Wang, the 28-year-old CEO of Scale AI, and acquired a 49% stake in the company for $14.3 billion. The moves underscore Meta’s renewed commitment to leading in the advanced AI space, competing with industry heavyweights like Google, OpenAI, and China's DeepSeek.

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