Meta has been actively pursuing top talent and companies in the AI sector, according to new reports. Sources say Meta approached AI startup Perplexity with an acquisition offer before securing a deal with Scale AI, but Perplexity declined to proceed.

Silicon Valley

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

Rise of AI

Meta has been actively pursuing top talent and companies in the artificial intelligence sector, according to new reports. Sources say Meta approached AI startup Perplexity with an acquisition offer before securing a deal with Scale AI, but Perplexity declined to proceed. This move is part of a broader pattern of Meta seeking to acquire or recruit leading figures and infrastructure in AI, including efforts to bring on board notable researchers and operators such as Alexander Wang, Daniel Gross, and Nat Friedman.

Industry observers note that Meta's approach appears driven by a desire to maintain momentum in AI rather than following a clear strategic roadmap. The competition for AI experts is intense, with motivations for researchers extending beyond financial compensation to include purpose and recognition within the field. Meta's recent initiatives, including the creation of a 'superintelligence lab,' are seen as attempts to attract top talent by appealing to both ambition and mission.

AI talent wars heat up

All right, welcome back. New reporting on Meta's AI talent efforts, including just a lot of money. I mean, just so much money. Deirdre Bosa joining us now with today's tech check. Deirdre, these are gigantic numbers. They are gigantic numbers, and I mean, it's relentless. According to a source, Zuckerberg approached AI startup Perplexity ahead of his scale AI deal. Bloomberg first reporting those discussions. I can add, though, from my source that it was Perplexity that walked away from any kind of deal. I reached out to Meta, but I haven't heard back yet. Taken with other recruitment efforts by Zuckerberg, this really underscores a narrative that I hear repeatedly here in San Francisco that Meta's campaign is about momentum, not coherent strategy. These are very different companies sitting in very different layers of AI. Perplexity is a consumer search app. Scale is AI infrastructure. SSI is a mission-driven research lab. Taken together, this looks less like a roadmap, more like strategic FOMO. Now, that great scoop yesterday from Kate Rooney reveals that Zuckerberg also tried to buy SSI for its founder, Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI co-founder, one of the most highly regarded, most influential researchers in AI. But when that didn't work, he moved fast to buy the next best thing, the infrastructure around Sutskever. That would be Daniel Gross and his longtime VC partner, Nat Friedman. Now, both are product ops who ship Gross helped build Siri. Nat Friedman ran GitHub after Microsoft bought it. They joined Alexander Wang, Zuckerberg's other recent poach, and another builder, not a theorist. This is becoming a pattern. Now, for many of the most sought-after researchers, it's not just about money. It's purpose versus power. So, yes, everyone has a price. But at this level, most have already made their fortunes. And this generation of AI scientists, they grew up chasing citations and Nature magazine covers, not cap tables. It's why superintelligence has become the buzzword of the moment. It's not just a technical goal, but a signal or a mission statement. And in Zuckerberg's case, it's a recruiting tool. The superintelligence lab is what he called it. The question is, guys, will the talent buy it or will they see it as Zuckerberg, you know, again, just jumping on the hottest trend, being somewhat disingenuous? Can I ask a really probably dumb question, Deirdre? I mean, we know what we do, right? Like, I always tell people I learn for a living and then I periodically go on TV to talk about it. That's pretty much my job. I spend most of my time reading, learning, just like you, talking to people. Then apparently we come on TV and say words. What do these people do? What does an AI researcher do that makes them worth so much money? It depends, right? I mean, you have the operators who did things before they were in AI, who can ship products like a Nat Friedman or a Daniel Gross or an Alexander Wang. But the really, like, hardcore white paper researchers, they have typically spent their lives in this, you know, writing up papers, working on that famous Transformers paper from Google. These are people who have, you know, spent a lot of their academic careers, most of their careers in academia, thinking about this stuff, proving theories and coming up with reasoning models. So very, very different here. And those are the ones that seem to be the most sought after, the academia type people, like the Demis Hassabis, who works at Google. He's been, you know, had covers on Nature magazine, which is really seen as the glory in AI, not necessarily shipping, but, you know, the cover of Nature magazine is like the peak of AI. You might, yeah, you might say that. What would be your dream magazine, Deirdre Beau? If I was going to get it, like, mine would be like road and track. If I could get on the cover of road and track, I'd retire. Rodent track, road and track, not road and track. Road like a road driving, not road and track. That's right up there with scrote from earlier. OK, I had to make sure I heard that correctly. I get I get think about it. Let me come back to you on what my my ideal would be. Maybe a business business magazine. I'm sure it's business. It's Silicon Valley Insider or Vanity Fair or Vanity Fair or that or people dot com. Maybe a feature in that Deirdre Bosa not going to be seen on the cover of road and track, which is about. I hope not. It's all about hamster wheels. Thank you very much, Deirdre Bosa.

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AI talent wars heat up

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