Meta Poaches More OpenAI Researchers Amid AI Model Disappointment

Meta continues to strengthen its AI capabilities by hiring influential researchers from rival company OpenAI. This move comes after the April launch of Meta’s Llama 4 AI models, which underperformed expectations and drew criticism.

In a series of recent reports, it has been confirmed that Meta recruited not only Trapit Bansal but also three other OpenAI researchers: Shengjia Zhao, Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, and Hongyu Ren.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had reportedly expected the Llama 4 models to perform better, sparking a heated exchange between the two companies’ leaders, Sam Altman and Andrew Bosworth. Despite Altman’s claims that OpenAI researchers received $100 million signing bonuses, Bosworth clarified that actual terms were more complex.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/28/meta-reportedly-hires-four-more-researchers-from-openai