After Meta’s $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI last week, which included hiring founder Alexandr Wang, the company’s aggressive AI talent push has expanded to include Daniel Gross, CEO of Safe Superintelligence, and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.
Sources reveal that earlier this year, Meta attempted to acquire Safe Superintelligence — reportedly valued at $32 billion — but Ilya Sutskever, who launched the startup shortly after leaving OpenAI, declined the offer and rebuffed Meta’s attempt to hire him.
Following those stalled talks, Meta focused on securing Gross and Friedman. Both will join Meta to work under Wang, while Meta will receive a stake in their venture capital firm, NFDG.
Daniel Gross is a longtime entrepreneur and AI investor with a background that includes Apple and Y Combinator. Nat Friedman, former GitHub CEO, co-founded several startups and now partners with Gross at NFDG. NFDG has invested in prominent AI and tech companies such as Coinbase and Figma.
A Fierce AI Talent War
Meta, Google, OpenAI, and other tech giants are racing to develop advanced large language models and push toward artificial general intelligence (AGI). Meta’s investments and recent hires highlight its commitment to remaining competitive in this space.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged Meta as a serious competitor, mentioning that despite lucrative offers, OpenAI’s top talent has so far declined to switch sides. Meanwhile, OpenAI continues to invest heavily in talent and innovation, including recent hires like Jony Ive.
By bringing in top AI leaders and investors like Wang, Gross, and Friedman, Meta aims to accelerate its AI initiatives and enhance its competitive edge in the evolving AI landscape.
Author’s Opinion
Meta’s aggressive recruitment of AI leaders highlights the importance of talent in this fast-moving sector. Yet, success depends on more than hiring—it requires a strong vision, cohesive strategy, and effective execution. Without these, even top talent may not deliver groundbreaking results.
Featured image credit: Anthony Quintano via Flickr
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