Mark Zuckerberg's strange behavior

Mark Zuckerberg personally scouted talent for Meta. Photo: WSJ .

In an effort to get Meta up and running in the AI race, Mark Zuckerberg personally led a talent recruitment campaign. Not only did he send direct messages via email or WhatsApp, but the Meta CEO was also willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to bring in the world's top minds to work for him.

According to the WSJ , the tech billionaire approached hundreds of researchers, engineers, scientists , infrastructure experts, and entrepreneurs in the AI field. The main goal was to build a new "superintelligence" team at Meta. In some cases, Mark Zuckerberg offered compensation packages of up to $100 million , along with invitations to dine at his private residence in Palo Alto or Lake Tahoe.

Some people who initially received Mark Zuckerberg's message thought it was a joke. However, upon confirming that the contact was indeed the CEO of Meta, they were convinced by the ruthlessness and unprecedented level of investment from the company's founder himself.

Unexpected action

Zuckerberg didn't stop at just sending invitations. He negotiated to acquire numerous startups, invested billions of dollars, and offered stakes in venture capital funds to bring key personnel to Meta. Among these, the $14 billion deal with Scale AI, founded by Alexandr Wang, has made a big splash recently.

The 28-year-old CEO is expected to lead Meta's new AI team and become one of the highest-paid executives in the tech industry. Besides Wang, Meta is also seeking to attract big names in the industry such as John Schulman (co-founder of OpenAI), Bill Peebles (the man behind the Sora video creation project), and Ilya Sutskever, former head of engineering at OpenAI.

Mark Zuckerberg surprised everyone by personally sending emails to the candidates. Photo: Bloomberg .

Currently, Meta has invested in the new AI company co-founded by Sutskever and is also in negotiations with Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman, two influential figures in the AI community, to acquire a portion of the investment fund they manage.

Additionally, Zuckerberg also proactively contacted Perplexity, an AI startup, and made an acquisition offer. However, there is no official information yet regarding the outcome of these deals.

"An email from him carries more weight than all the recruitment experts combined," a source said.

Zuckerberg's strategy has drawn attention in the tech world, not only because of its financial implications but also because of its direct and detailed approach. The Meta CEO even proactively planned workspaces for potential candidates and committed to providing maximum computing and financial resources, something few tech companies can offer.

Ambitious approach with the new team.

Mark Zuckerberg established a dedicated recruitment team called the “Recruiting Party” to continuously monitor progress, working closely with HR director Janelle Gale and recruitment leader Ruta Singh. The Meta CEO was tasked with thoroughly reviewing AI research papers, delving into the technology, and networking with leading scientists to expand the recruitment process.

Meta's CEO wants to create a new team of experts to build a super AI. Photo: Bloomberg .

Despite its apparent efforts, Meta's construction of a "super AI team" still faces considerable skepticism. Some candidates argue that Zuckerberg's desired goal of "achieving superintelligence" is vague and lacks a concrete roadmap beyond mass recruitment. The instability in the organization's structure and the constant restructuring of the social media giant also make many experts wary.

Within the company, differences in development perspectives gradually emerged. Yann LeCun, Meta's AI scientist whom Zuckerberg recruited in 2013, did not believe that large language models (LLMs) could lead humanity to superintelligence. This view contrasted with the current trend that Meta was pursuing.

Currently, Facebook's parent company is trying to regain its position in a game where it once held the lead. Amidst the industry's race to "arm" AI, Zuckerberg believes that personally recruiting talent is the quickest and most effective way to turn the tide.

Source: https://znews.vn/hanh-dong-ky-la-cua-mark-zuckerberg-post1563107.html