Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Poaches Top OpenAI Researchers Jason Wei And Hyung Won Chung For Its Superintelligence Lab: Report

Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has reportedly hired two top researchers from OpenAI—Jason Wei and Hyung Won Chung—for its ambitious new superintelligence lab.

What Happened: Wei and Chung's internal Slack accounts at OpenAI have been deactivated, reported Wired on Tuesday, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter.

Both researchers joined OpenAI in 2023 after working at Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google, where they collaborated on chain-of-thought and deep reasoning research.

At OpenAI, Wei focused on reinforcement learning, a growing area in AI that trains models using reward-based feedback. Chung contributed to OpenAI's ‘o1' model and specialized in agents and reasoning.

See Also: Meta’s Metaverse Dreams Tested By New ByteDance Swan Goggles

The two are known to have a close working relationship and have frequently worked on overlapping projects.

Meta, OpenAI, Wei and Chung did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments.

Why It’s Important: This recruitment comes amid a wave of aggressive AI hiring by Meta, which has reportedly offered compensation packages of up to $300 million over four years to lure talent from rivals, the report said.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also outlined a refreshed AI roadmap and named several high-profile hires from OpenAI to the company's internal superintelligence team.

Last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that Meta reportedly offered nine-figure compensation packages — around $100 million each — to poach top OpenAI and Google DeepMind researchers as part of its AI talent drive.

However, at the time, Altman stated that "none of our best people have decided to take them up on that."

Earlier this week, it was also reported that Meta acquired PlayAI, a startup specializing in natural-sounding voice technology. The financial details weren't disclosed, but the entire PlayAI team will reportedly join Meta this week and report to Johan Schalkwyk, who recently came on board from voice AI firm Sesame AI.

Price Action: Meta shares have climbed 18.55% so far this year and gained 45.04% over the past 12 months. On Tuesday, the stock slipped 1.46% during regular trading but edged up 0.070% in after-hours trading, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings show that META maintains a steady upward trend across short, medium and long-term periods. Its growth score stays robust, though its value rating is comparatively weaker. More detailed performance insights can be found here.

Photo Courtesy: Skorzewiak on Shutterstock.com

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.