August 21, Wednesday: Meta has paused hiring for its new artificial intelligence business, the company announced Thursday, capping a spending spree that saw it hire a slew of expensive AI researchers and engineers. The Wall Street Journal first covered the pause, which began last week as part of a broader restructuring of the group, citing people familiar with the situation.
In a statement shared with CNBC, a Meta official said that the pause was simply “some basic organizational planning: creating a solid structure for our new superintelligence efforts after bringing people on board and undertaking yearly budgeting and planning exercises.”
According to the WSJ, a recent restructuring at Meta has split its AI efforts into four divisions. This includes a team dedicated to constructing machine superintelligence known as the "TBD lab," or "To Be Determined," an AI products division, an infrastructure division, and a division focusing on longer-term projects and exploration.
It added te all four groups belong to “Meta Superintelligence Labs,” a name that reflects the CEO. Mark Zuckerberg’s desire to build AI that surpasses human intelligence. In pursuit of that goal, Meta has spent much on AI this year. This includes efforts to poach prominent people from rival AI businesses, with offers reportedly including signing bonuses of up to $100 million.
In one of its most brilliant and clever moves, Meta acquired Alexandr Wang, founder of Scale AI, as part of a deal that saw the Facebook parent dish out $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in the AI startup. Wang currently leads the company's AI lab dedicated to enhancing its Llama series of open-source large language models. Although Meta’s intense recruitment approach has attracted attention lately due to its hefty costs, other large tech firms are similarly investing billions in AI talent, research and development, and AI infrastructure.
The abrupt halt in AI hiring by the owner of Facebook and Instagram occurs alongside rising worries that AI investments are accelerating too quickly and a larger decline in U.S. tech stocks this week.
