A logo of Meta Group's artificial intelligence division, captured by photographer Vincent Feuray for AFP/Getty Images.
Mark Zuckerberg is pouring billions into artificial intelligence, aggressively hiring top engineers in a race to catch up with rivals like OpenAI and Google. But the question on everyone’s mind—will this enormous gamble on AI talent really work?
In recent months, Meta has gone all-in on recruiting the best minds in generative AI. According to reports, they’ve offered jaw-dropping bonuses, with some engineers receiving up to $100 million to leave companies like OpenAI. Even Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, openly criticized Meta’s approach, noting how it’s shaking up the tech hiring landscape.
Several OpenAI staffers have reportedly taken the offer. One major move was Meta's mid-June investment of more than $14 billion for a 49% stake in Scale AI. As part of the deal, Scale AI’s founder, Alexandr Wang, joined Meta. His company specializes in data labelling—a critical task for training AI models used by businesses and governments. Now, Wang is expected to help Meta develop AI systems capable of matching or even surpassing human intelligence.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed the deal, saying the company will work closely with Scale AI to improve how it generates and uses data for AI training.
Meta’s aggressive hiring doesn’t stop there. It has reportedly approached other big names in the AI world, including OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, Google’s competitor Perplexity AI, and video-focused AI startup Runway.
Zuckerberg is said to be personally leading the charge. The motivation? Meta’s current AI model, Llama, isn’t keeping pace with other models when it comes to tasks like writing code. In a public AI model comparison platform, Llama lagged behind.
To fix that, Meta has built a new internal team focused on developing “superintelligence”—AI that can reason and think better than humans. But some critics are skeptical.
Technology blogger Zvi Moshowitz believes Meta’s approach may attract talent in the short term, but doubts the long-term payoff. “Zuckerberg had to do something,” he says, “but building a team purely for the money might not result in the best outcomes. I don’t expect it to work, but maybe Llama will improve a bit.”
Despite this, Meta’s stock is riding high, pushing close to a $2 trillion valuation. But behind the scenes, some institutional investors are starting to get nervous.
Ted Mortonson, a strategist at Baird, expressed concern over Meta’s unchecked spending, pointing out that Zuckerberg seems to have full control over decisions without enough oversight. The idea of boosting ad revenue through smarter AI-driven targeting sounds great—but only if the AI investments actually pay off.
Meta’s long-term plan is to use AI to simplify and speed up the advertising process, offering brands an all-in-one solution that doesn’t rely on outside creative agencies. But analysts say it will take time to see real returns.
According to Angelo Zino at CFRA, AI hiring is a future-focused move. “These hires won’t improve profits immediately,” he explained, “but if Meta wants to be ready for the next phase of AI, it needs to invest aggressively now.”
Interestingly, Zuckerberg may already be rethinking his strategy. The New York Times reported that he’s considering stepping away from Meta’s current Llama model, possibly in favour of adopting or using other companies’ models instead.
Yet there’s still hope for Meta. Professor Mehmet Canayaz from Penn State University believes success doesn’t depend on having the most advanced AI. Instead, it’s about tailoring AI tools to fit specific user needs. “Meta could still do very well,” he said, “as long as its AI works effectively within its target market.”
