Meta Platforms Inc. has recently onboarded three leading researchers from Google DeepMind, marking another strategic move in its aggressive AI talent acquisition drive. These hires bolster Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, aimed at achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI).
🔍 Who Joined Meta?
The trio includes Jack Rae, the principal researcher at DeepMind who led pre‑training efforts on Gemini 2.5 and previously worked on DeepMind’s Gopher and Chinchilla foundational models. Johan Schalkwyk, known for his work on voice AI at Sesame and prior contributions at Google, has also joined Meta’s AGI team. Although not named individually by Meta, these researchers are part of a broader cohort moving from DeepMind to Meta’s Superintelligence unit
According to The Economic Times, Meta’s recent hires include three researchers directly from Google DeepMind, underlining its focus on science-lead engineering talent
🌐 Why These Hires Matter
- Strengthening Superintelligence Labs: The researchers are now part of Meta’s newly formed AI division—Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL)—which includes teams from FAIR and product foundations, now working under leaders like Alexandr Wang (former Scale AI CEO) and Nat Friedman (ex‑GitHub CEO)
- Deep expertise in foundational models: Jack Rae’s work on Gemini pre-training and large models makes him a strong fit for Meta’s AGI roadmap. The hires complement earlier moves, such as recruiting scholars from OpenAI and Anthropic to create reinforcement-learning and reasoning systems
- Meta’s escalating recruitment war: These moves align with Meta’s reputation for offering massive compensation—reportedly up to $100 million annually—to poach leading AI talent. Former hires like Lucas Beyer and Alexander Kolesnikov also originated from DeepMind before joining Meta
🧭 Bigger Picture: The AI Talent War
Meta’s recruitment wave reflects a broader global competition for AI innovation. Other tech giants—including Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI—are aggressively hiring, investing in infrastructure, and raising stakes in the talent war. Former Google HR chief Laszlo Bock called these hiring packages “rational” amid an escalating arms race for top researchers Business Insider.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s AI-focused restructuring is backed by massive investments, including a $14–15 billion stake in Scale AI and the development of multi‑gigawatt data centers like Prometheus and Hyperion Business Insider
