Meta Appoints Shengjia Zhao as Chief Scientist of AI Superintelligence Labs
Meta Strengthens AI Ambitions with Shengjia Zhao Leading Superintelligence Labs
Meta has made a significant move in the AI landscape by naming Shengjia Zhao, a former leading researcher at OpenAI, as the Chief Scientist of its newly established Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). This appointment marks a major step in Meta's quest to develop next-generation AI systems capable of advanced reasoning and intelligence.
Who Is Shengjia Zhao?
Shengjia Zhao is widely recognized for his groundbreaking work at OpenAI, where he played a key role in developing major projects such as ChatGPT, GPT-4, and the o1 reasoning model. Zhao's expertise in scaling AI models and pioneering new approaches to machine reasoning has made him one of the most influential figures in the field.
Meta Superintelligence Labs: A New Era
Meta Superintelligence Labs was co-founded by Zhao and will be led operationally by Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of Scale AI. While Wang brings deep industry experience, Zhao will set the scientific direction for the lab, focusing on research that aims to push the boundaries of AI reasoning and general intelligence.
- Research Focus: Developing frontier AI models with advanced reasoning capabilities
- Team Composition: Top researchers recruited from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Safe Superintelligence, Apple, Anthropic, and Meta's own FAIR and GenAI units
- Infrastructure: Access to Meta's upcoming Prometheus computing cluster, projected to deliver one gigawatt of power by 2026
Strategic Hires and Ambitious Goals
Meta's aggressive recruitment strategy has brought in several high-profile scientists, many directly from OpenAI. Alongside Zhao, notable additions include Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, Hongyu Ren, and Trapit Bansal—all experts in AI reasoning and multimodality research. Meta has reportedly offered highly competitive compensation packages to attract this talent, demonstrating its commitment to becoming a leader in AI superintelligence.
Future Outlook
With Zhao’s leadership, Meta now boasts two chief AI scientists: Zhao for MSL and Yann LeCun for FAIR, Meta’s long-term research division. While the collaboration between these units is still being defined, Meta's strengthened AI leadership positions the company to compete with other tech giants like OpenAI and Google in developing frontier AI capabilities.
What’s Next for Meta’s AI Ambitions?
By 2026, MSL researchers will have access to Prometheus, one of the world's most powerful AI training clusters. This will enable Meta to run the large-scale experiments necessary to build competitive, safe, and advanced AI systems. With its new leadership team and robust infrastructure, Meta is poised to shape the future of artificial intelligence.
