Meta Poaches 4 Key Researchers from OpenAI

Four prominent researchers from OpenAI are leaving the company to join Meta, according to two sources. Shengjia Zhao, Shuchao Bi, Jiahui Yu, and Hongyu Ren have transitioned to Meta’s superintelligence team, and their OpenAI Slack profiles have been deactivated. The Information first reported on these departures.

Shengjia Zhao, known for his expertise in deep learning, joined OpenAI in the summer of 2022 and played a crucial role in building the GPT-4 model. Shuchao Bi, a manager of OpenAI’s multimodal models, is also part of the move. Jiahui Yu, who previously worked at Google DeepMind, joined OpenAI in late 2023. Hongyu Ren, who was the post-training lead for OpenAI’s o3 and o4 mini models, as well as the open-source model set to be released this summer, rounds out the group.

These departures come shortly after OpenAI lost three researchers from its Zurich office, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Mark Zuckerberg’s aggressive strategy to catch up with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google in the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is evident in these moves. Earlier this month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that Meta has been offering “giant” signing bonuses, including $100 million sums, to OpenAI staffers. Despite Altman’s claim that none of their top people have taken these offers, the recent departures suggest otherwise.

Hongyu Ren’s expertise in post-training processes is particularly valuable. Post-training involves refining a model after it has been trained on a primary dataset, a critical step in ensuring the model’s effectiveness. Shengjia Zhao’s contributions to deep learning research have been significant, and his move to Meta could accelerate the company’s AI efforts.

Jiahui Yu’s experience at Google DeepMind adds another layer of expertise to Meta’s team. Shuchao Bi’s role in managing multimodal models, which integrate various types of data like text, images, and audio, is also a valuable asset.

These moves by Meta highlight the intense competition in the AI research field. As companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google continue to push the boundaries of AI, the talent war is likely to intensify. Despite the departures, OpenAI remains a leading force in AI research, but the loss of key researchers could impact its future projects.

OpenAI and Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. This is a developing story, and further updates are expected.