Zuckerberg restructures Meta’s AI team, taps Scale AI founder

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced a major reorganization of the company’s AI division.

A new group called Meta Superintelligence Labs will be created, according to an internal memo sent to employees on June 30, 2025.

This group will focus on developing AI systems that can match or exceed human capabilities.

The former CEO of data-labeling company Scale AI Alexandr Wang has been appointed as chief AI officer to lead the initiative.

Nat Friedman, previously CEO of GitHub, will work alongside Wang to manage AI products and applied research.

Among the notable new hires are former DeepMind researchers Jack Rae and Pei Sun, as well as OpenAI researchers Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, Shengjia Zhao, and Hongyu Ren.

Meta’s restructuring aims to enhance its competitiveness against AI-focused competitors such as OpenAI and Google.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Zuckerberg’s long-term AI vision extends beyond social media

Meta’s current AI talent acquisition spree follows a pattern established years ago with Zuckerberg’s philanthropic ventures.

In January 2017, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative acquired an AI startup (coincidentally also named “Meta”) that used machine learning to analyze scientific papers, demonstrating Zuckerberg’s early recognition of AI’s transformative potential beyond social media 1.

This previous acquisition focused on using AI to accelerate scientific discoveries and “cure, prevent or manage all diseases by the end of the century,” with Zuckerberg and his wife committing $3 billion to medical research 2.

The current push into “superintelligence” represents a continuation of this long-term vision, where AI serves as a fundamental enabling technology across multiple domains rather than just a product feature.

The consistent thread in Zuckerberg’s approach has been identifying AI talent and capabilities that can be acquired rather than built internally, as evidenced by both the 2017 scientific AI acquisition and the current wave of high-profile hires.