Meta, the social media giant behind Facebook and Instagram, is struggling to recruit top AI talent amid a frenzied hiring spree by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Despite his efforts to poach high-caliber researchers from rival companies like OpenAI and Google, Meta continues to lose employees.
In recent years, Meta has lost several prominent AI researchers who have gone on to start successful companies or join other firms with better resources and more promising projects. These departures have left the company’s AI lab in shambles, with many former employees citing a chaotic culture and lack of direction.
“It’s like Mark is trying to undo the loss of talent,” said one former Meta AI employee. “They already had the best people, but they lost them to OpenAI.”
The brain drain has been so severe that even top-tier companies like Google are no longer interested in poaching Meta’s remaining AI talent. In fact, insiders say that some major frontier AI companies have expressed skepticism about hiring Meta employees due to concerns over their skills and experience.
“It’s the Washington Commanders of tech companies,” said a senior executive at one of the major frontier AI companies. “They massively overpay for okay-ish AI scientists and then civilians think those are the best AI scientists in the world because they are paid so much.”
Despite Zuckerberg’s high-profile shopping spree, Meta continues to struggle with retaining its remaining AI talent. The company has made significant investments in building a new superintelligence lab, but it remains unclear how this effort will ultimately benefit the company.
One former researcher said that the lab is causing confusion among employees who feel like they are being pushed to the side. “People are wondering where they fit in and they feel like they are being forced out,” they said.
As Meta continues to grapple with its AI woes, it’s clear that the company still has a long way to go to regain the trust of top talent.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rashishrivastava/2025/08/13/zuckerberg-squandered-his-ai-talent-now-hes-spending-billions-to-replace-it