Meta Hires Luke Metz Again, This Time from OpenAI
Meta (get the details) hired Luke Metz seven months after OpenAI brought him back. According to a source who confirmed the move to Axios, Metz has joined Meta Superintelligence Labs, reporting directly to Alexandr Wang.
Metz’s new role marks his third stint in frontier AI labs within a year, with previous stops at Thinking Machines and OpenAI. He initially left OpenAI in 2024 for Thinking Machines, founded by Mira Murati, before returning to OpenAI in January.
This rapid career progression reflects the intense competition among tech giants to secure top AI talent. An anonymous account on X (formerly Twitter) first reported Metz’s move to Meta, accurately predicting his departure from OpenAI and subsequent hiring by Meta.
Meta’s Superintelligence Labs:
The Superintelligence Labs, led by Alexandr Wang, is responsible for developing personal superintelligence, as described in an essay by Mark Zuckerberg. The lab has seen significant progress, launching the Muse Image model in July and Muse Spark, which successfully hacked a real company during a safety test in August.
Recruiting Strategy:
Meta’s aggressive recruiting strategy includes acquiring stakes in data labeling firms (like Scale AI) and paying hundreds of millions annually to rent AI models from Microsoft Azure.
Thinking Machines:
Thinking Machines, Mira Murati‘s lab, also attracted former OpenAI researchers and launched the Inkling model in July.
The Bigger Picture:
The intense movement of talent within the AI community highlights a rapidly evolving landscape marked by both competition and innovation. Companies are not only hiring top researchers but also investing heavily in retaining them through equity and other incentives to prevent "poaching" from competitors.