Meta Appoints Shengjia Zhao Chief Scientist of AI Superintelligence
Meta has formally appointed Shengjia Zhao, a former OpenAI researcher, as the Chief Scientist of its new AI unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). Zhao’s track record includes leading contributions to OpenAI’s most notable innovations; ChatGPT, GPT-4, and its first AI reasoning model, o1. Although he helped co-found the lab, Meta only recently solidified his leadership role as the unit expands.
Zhao will drive MSL’s research strategy while operating under the broader leadership of Alexandr Wang, formerly the CEO of Scale AI. While Wang’s background is more operational than academic, Zhao’s scientific expertise brings balance to the leadership structure. The move reflects Meta’s focus on developing next-generation AI models that can rival top-tier systems in the market.
Building a High-Caliber AI Team
To support MSL’s goals, Meta has aggressively recruited researchers from leading institutions, including OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Safe Superintelligence, Apple, and Anthropic. Additionally, Meta has transitioned internal talent from its Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab and generative AI units to strengthen MSL’s capabilities.
Notably, several prominent AI researchers have joined Zhao at MSL, including experts in reasoning models and multimodal systems. These hires signal Meta’s commitment to closing the competitive gap with rivals in frontier AI development.
Zhao is credited with pioneering a “new scaling paradigm” during his time at OpenAI. This approach contributed to the success of the o1 model and is now a central focus at MSL. Since Meta does not yet offer an equivalent to o1, building competitive reasoning AI models has become a strategic priority.
Infrastructure and Investment for Future Growth
To accelerate development, Meta is not only investing in talent but also in infrastructure. The company is constructing Prometheus, a 1-gigawatt cloud computing cluster based in Ohio. By 2026, MSL researchers will gain access to this massive resource, allowing for advanced AI model training at scale. The facility’s capacity is enough to power over 750,000 homes, underscoring the magnitude of Meta’s ambitions.
Furthermore, Meta has offered generous compensation packages to attract top-tier talent. Some of these offers reportedly include high-value contracts with rapid decision timelines, reflecting the competitive nature of AI recruitment.
Although Meta now operates three major AI divisions – MSL, FAIR, and its generative AI unit; the exact integration strategy remains unclear. While MSL focuses on near-term breakthroughs, FAIR continues to pursue long-term research that may take years to commercialize.
Nevertheless, with Zhao’s appointment and an increasingly well-resourced team, Meta has positioned itself to be a serious contender against OpenAI, Google, and other leaders in artificial intelligence.
