Latest news with #DanielGross
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta's quest to dominate the AI world
Facebook parent Meta (META) is spending billions to grab the lead in the AI race, building out the data centers needed to develop and power high-end large language models. And now, the company is pouring billions more into snatching up top talent and technologies to grab the lead in the AI wars. Meta is reportedly in talks to bag Safe Superintelligence CEO Daniel Gross and former Github CEO Nat Friedman for its planned superintelligence lab. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was initially eyeing all of Safe Superintelligence but was shot down by co-founder Ilya Sutskever, according to CNBC. The move comes after Meta invested $14.3 billion in AI startup Scale AI and hired its CEO and co-founder Alexandr Wang. And during an appearance on his brother Jack Altman's 'Uncapped' podcast, OpenAI ( CEO Sam Altman claimed that Zuckerberg has offered OpenAI employees upward of $100 million to join his company's AI efforts. That's not all: Meta also wanted to buy Perplexity AI ( but couldn't come to terms on a deal. 'Meta is doing this because they want to win the AI race, period,' Forrester analyst Mike Proulx told Yahoo Finance. 'AI is everything right now.' All of this follows Meta's decision to postpone the debut of its massive Llama 4 Behemoth AI model. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company won't launch the model until later this fall over concerns that it isn't a big enough upgrade over prior models. 'I think this is two things: No. 1 [is] confirmation that Llama is struggling,' Deepwater Asset Management managing partner Gene Munster told Yahoo Finance. 'And second, is [it's] also a sign that Zuckerberg is not OK with that.' For Meta, the goal is clear: bring in as much fresh talent as possible to push its AI program forward and take the lead in the AI wars. Meta's effort to rule the AI world differs from chief rivals OpenAI, Google, xAI, and others. Rather than closing off its AI models, the company offers them as open-source software that developers and companies can use on their own. Meta imposes some restrictions on how users can take advantage of its models. For instance, the company requires firms to request a license from Meta if their product has more than 700 million monthly active users. Regardless, Meta's ultimate goal is to get as many people as it's comfortable with using and developing products via its AI models. Why not charge everyone who wants to access its software? Because Meta benefits every time a company alters its models, giving it greater insights into how it can improve them down the line. Meta isn't terribly interested in selling access to its models, either. The company primarily uses its AI to power its advertising and content recommendation services, unlike, say, Microsoft (MSFT), which sells its AI services as part of its productivity software packages, among other things. Meta CFO Susan Li told investors during the company's most recent earnings call that it saw a 4% increase in user time spent on the Threads app since introducing Llama to its recommendation systems at the end of last year. Meta is also leaning on its AI models to provide the intelligence for its hardware products including its Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses and other future AI-powered devices. 'Why Meta is making these moves is that they've got a ton of money, and so with that money, they are in a good position to, if they can't build it themselves, acquire the talent and capabilities necessary to …leapfrog the competition,' Proulx explained. But Meta isn't the only company circling Silicon Valley's AI upstarts. Apple is also reportedly looking into bagging its own AI company as the iPhone maker looks to improve its own AI fortunes. Apple was supposed to release an AI-powered version of Siri earlier this year, but has pushed the rollout until later this year as it contends with its own development difficulties. To that end, Apple has also discussed purchasing Perplexity AI, according to Bloomberg. While a spokesperson for Perplexity said the company has no knowledge of current or future M&A discussions, they added, 'It shouldn't be a surprise that the best OEM's in the world want to offer the best search and most accurate AI for their users, and that's Perplexity.' Apple rival Samsung is also reportedly looking to add Perplexity to its devices. For Meta, it will all come down to whether it can woo the right people from the right AI firms to join its AI push and catapult the company into the pole position in the AI race. If it can't, the social media giant could find itself falling further without a clear path forward. Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@ Follow him on X/Twitter at @DanielHowley. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta's quest to dominate the AI world
Facebook parent Meta (META) is spending billions to grab the lead in the AI race, building out the data centers needed to develop and power high-end large language models. And now, the company is pouring billions more into snatching up top talent and technologies to grab the lead in the AI wars. Meta is reportedly in talks to bag Safe Superintelligence CEO Daniel Gross and former Github CEO Nat Friedman for its planned superintelligence lab. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was initially eyeing all of Safe Superintelligence but was shot down by co-founder Ilya Sutskever, according to CNBC. The move comes after Meta invested $14.3 billion in AI startup Scale AI and hired its CEO and co-founder Alexandr Wang. And during an appearance on his brother Jack Altman's 'Uncapped' podcast, OpenAI ( CEO Sam Altman claimed that Zuckerberg has offered OpenAI employees upward of $100 million to join his company's AI efforts. That's not all: Meta also wanted to buy Perplexity AI ( but couldn't come to terms on a deal. 'Meta is doing this because they want to win the AI race, period,' Forrester analyst Mike Proulx told Yahoo Finance. 'AI is everything right now.' All of this follows Meta's decision to postpone the debut of its massive Llama 4 Behemoth AI model. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company won't launch the model until later this fall over concerns that it isn't a big enough upgrade over prior models. 'I think this is two things: No. 1 [is] confirmation that Llama is struggling,' Deepwater Asset Management managing partner Gene Munster told Yahoo Finance. 'And second, is [it's] also a sign that Zuckerberg is not OK with that.' For Meta, the goal is clear: bring in as much fresh talent as possible to push its AI program forward and take the lead in the AI wars. Meta's effort to rule the AI world differs from chief rivals OpenAI, Google, xAI, and others. Rather than closing off its AI models, the company offers them as open-source software that developers and companies can use on their own. Meta imposes some restrictions on how users can take advantage of its models. For instance, the company requires firms to request a license from Meta if their product has more than 700 million monthly active users. Regardless, Meta's ultimate goal is to get as many people as it's comfortable with using and developing products via its AI models. Why not charge everyone who wants to access its software? Because Meta benefits every time a company alters its models, giving it greater insights into how it can improve them down the line. Meta isn't terribly interested in selling access to its models, either. The company primarily uses its AI to power its advertising and content recommendation services, unlike, say, Microsoft (MSFT), which sells its AI services as part of its productivity software packages, among other things. Meta CFO Susan Li told investors during the company's most recent earnings call that it saw a 4% increase in user time spent on the Threads app since introducing Llama to its recommendation systems at the end of last year. Meta is also leaning on its AI models to provide the intelligence for its hardware products including its Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses and other future AI-powered devices. 'Why Meta is making these moves is that they've got a ton of money, and so with that money, they are in a good position to, if they can't build it themselves, acquire the talent and capabilities necessary to …leapfrog the competition,' Proulx explained. But Meta isn't the only company circling Silicon Valley's AI upstarts. Apple is also reportedly looking into bagging its own AI company as the iPhone maker looks to improve its own AI fortunes. Apple was supposed to release an AI-powered version of Siri earlier this year, but has pushed the rollout until later this year as it contends with its own development difficulties. To that end, Apple has also discussed purchasing Perplexity AI, according to Bloomberg. While a spokesperson for Perplexity said the company has no knowledge of current or future M&A discussions, they added, 'It shouldn't be a surprise that the best OEM's in the world want to offer the best search and most accurate AI for their users, and that's Perplexity.' Apple rival Samsung is also reportedly looking to add Perplexity to its devices. For Meta, it will all come down to whether it can woo the right people from the right AI firms to join its AI push and catapult the company into the pole position in the AI race. If it can't, the social media giant could find itself falling further without a clear path forward. Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@ Follow him on X/Twitter at @DanielHowley. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta Tried to Buy Runway Before $14B Scale AI Bet
June 24 - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) held early talks with artificial intelligence startup Runway about a possible acquisition earlier this year, according to a Monday report confirmed by CNBC. Runway, known for its AI-driven video tools, was also recently featured on the Disruptor 50 list. However, discussions between the two companies did not move beyond the initial stage and ultimately fell through, a person familiar with the matter told the outlet. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Sign with META. The approach came before Meta committed $14.3 billion to Scale AI in June. That deal gave Meta a 49% stake in the company, and it brought on Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang and several team members to work on Meta's internal AI products. Meta has also held similar acquisition talks with Safe Superintelligence and Perplexity AI in recent months. Although those efforts didn't result in full takeovers, some executives from those firmsincluding Safe Superintelligence CEO Daniel Gross and former GitHub chief Nat Friedmanare now joining Meta's AI unit. Meta declined to comment on the reported Runway discussions. This string of outreach underlines Meta's broader strategy to scale its AI capabilities across product areas as competition intensifies among tech giants. This shows Meta's AI expansion playbook relies as much on partnerships and personnel shifts as it does on major investments. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta Tried to Buy Runway Before $14B Scale AI Bet
June 24 - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) held early talks with artificial intelligence startup Runway about a possible acquisition earlier this year, according to a Monday report confirmed by CNBC. Runway, known for its AI-driven video tools, was also recently featured on the Disruptor 50 list. However, discussions between the two companies did not move beyond the initial stage and ultimately fell through, a person familiar with the matter told the outlet. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Sign with META. The approach came before Meta committed $14.3 billion to Scale AI in June. That deal gave Meta a 49% stake in the company, and it brought on Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang and several team members to work on Meta's internal AI products. Meta has also held similar acquisition talks with Safe Superintelligence and Perplexity AI in recent months. Although those efforts didn't result in full takeovers, some executives from those firmsincluding Safe Superintelligence CEO Daniel Gross and former GitHub chief Nat Friedmanare now joining Meta's AI unit. Meta declined to comment on the reported Runway discussions. This string of outreach underlines Meta's broader strategy to scale its AI capabilities across product areas as competition intensifies among tech giants. This shows Meta's AI expansion playbook relies as much on partnerships and personnel shifts as it does on major investments. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio
The Verge
20-06-2025
- Business
- The Verge
Meta held talks to buy Thinking Machines, Perplexity, and Safe Superintelligence
At this point, it's becoming easier to say which AI startups Mark Zuckerberg hasn't looked at acquiring. In addition to Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence (SSI), sources tell me the Meta CEO recently discussed buying ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab and Perplexity, the AI-native Google rival. None of these talks progressed to the formal offer stage for various reasons, including disagreements over deal prices and strategy, but together they illustrate how aggressively Zuckerberg has been canvassing the industry to reboot his AI efforts. Now, details about the team Zuckerberg is assembling are starting to come into view: SSI co-founder and CEO Daniel Gross, along with ex-Github CEO Nat Friedman, are poised to co-lead the Meta AI assistant. Both men will report to Alexandr Wang, the former Scale CEO Zuckerberg just paid over $14 billion to quickly hire. Wang told his Scale team goodbye last Friday and was in the Meta office on Monday. This week, he has been meeting with top Meta leaders (more on that below) and continuing to recruit for the new AI team Zuckerberg has tasked him with building. I expect the team to be unveiled as soon as next week. Rather than join Meta, Sutskever, Murati, and Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas have all gone on to raise more money at higher valuations. Sutskever, a titan of the AI research community who co-founded OpenAI, recently raised a couple of billion dollars for SSI. Both Meta and Google are investors in his company, I'm told. Murati also just raised a couple of billion dollars. Neither she nor Sutskever is close to releasing a product. Srinivas, meanwhile, is in the process of raising around $500 million for Perplexity. Spokespeople for all the companies involved either declined to comment or didn't respond in time for publication. The Information and CNBC first reported Zuckerberg's talks with Safe Superintelligence, while Bloomberg first reported the Perplexity talks. While Zuckerberg's recruiting drive is motivated by the urgency he feels to fix Meta's AI strategy, the situation also highlights the fierce competition for top AI talent these days. In my conversations this week, those on the inside of the industry aren't surprised by Zuckerberg making nine-figure — or even, yes, 10-figure — compensation offers for the best AI talent. There are certain senior people at OpenAI, for example, who are already compensated in that ballpark, thanks to the company's meteoric increase in valuation over the last few years. Speaking of OpenAI, it's clear that CEO Sam Altman is at least a bit rattled by Zuckerberg's hiring spree. His decision to appear on his brother's podcast this week and say that 'none of our best people' are leaving for Meta was probably meant to convey a position of strength, but in reality, it looks like he is throwing his former colleagues under the bus. I was confused by Altman's suggestion that Meta paying a lot upfront for talent won't 'set up a great culture.' After all, didn't OpenAI just pay $6.5 billion to hire Jony Ive and his small hardware team? When I joined a Zoom call with Alex Himel, Meta's VP of wearables, this week, he had just gotten off a call with Zuckerberg's new AI chief, Alexandr Wang. 'There's an increasing number of Alexes that I talk to on a regular basis,' Himel joked as we started our conversation about Meta's new glasses release with Oakley. 'I was just in my first meeting with him. There were like three people in a room with the camera real far away, and I was like, 'Who is talking right now?' And then I was like, 'Oh, hey, it's Alex.'' The following Q&A has been edited for length and clarity: How did your meeting with Alex just now go? The meeting was about how to make AI as awesome as it can be for glasses. Obviously, there are some unique use cases in the glasses that aren't stuff you do on a phone. The thing we're trying to figure out is how to balance it all, because AI can be everything to everyone or it could be amazing for more specific use cases. We're trying to figure out how to strike the right balance because there's a ton of stuff in the underlying Llama models and that whole pipeline that we don't care about on glasses. Then there's stuff we really, really care about, like egocentric view and trying to feed video into the models to help with some of the really aspirational use cases that we wouldn't build otherwise. You are referring to this new lineup with Oakley as 'AI glasses.' Is that the new branding for this category? They are AI glasses, not smart glasses? We refer to the category as AI glasses. You saw Orion. You used it for longer than anyone else in the demo, which I commend you for. We used to think that's what you needed to hit scale for this new category. You needed the big field of view and display to overlay virtual content. Our opinion of that has definitely changed. We think we can hit scale faster, and AI is the reason we think that's possible. Right now, the top two use cases for the glasses are audio — phone calls, music, podcasts — and taking photos and videos. We look at participation rates of our active users, and those have been one and two since launch. Audio is one. A very close second is photos and videos. AI has been number three from the start. As we've been launching more markets — we're now in 18 — and we've been adding more features, AI is creeping up. Our biggest investment by a mile on the software side is AI functionality, because we think that glasses are the best form factor for AI. They are something you're already wearing all the time. They can see what you see. They can hear what you hear. They're super accessible. Is your goal to have AI supersede audio and photo to be the most used feature for glasses, or is that not how you think about it? From a math standpoint, at best, you could tie. We do want AI to be something that's increasingly used by more people more frequently. We think there's definitely room for the audio to get better. There's definitely room for image quality to get better. The AI stuff has much more headroom. How much of the AI is onboard the glasses versus the cloud? I imagine you have lots of physical constraints with this kind of device. We've now got one billion-parameter models that can run on the frame. So, increasingly, there's stuff there. Then we have stuff running on the phone. If you were watching WWDC, Apple made a couple of announcements that we haven't had a chance to test yet, but we're excited about. One is the Wi-Fi Aware APIs. We should be able to transfer photos and videos without having people tap that annoying dialogue box every time. That'd be great. The second one was processor background access, which should allow us to do image processing when you transfer the media over. Syncing would work just like it does on Android. Do you think the market for these new Oakley glasses will be as big as the Ray-Bans? Or is it more niche because they are more outdoors and athlete-focused? We work with EssilorLuxottica, which is a great partner. Ray-Ban is their largest brand. Within that, the most popular style is Wayfair. When we launched the original Ray-Ban Meta glasses, we went with the most popular style for the most popular brand. Their second biggest brand is Oakley. A lot of people wear them. The Holbrook is really popular. The HSTN, which is what we're launching, is a really popular analog frame. We increasingly see people using the Ray-Ban Meta glasses for active use cases. This is our first step into the performance category. There's more to come. What's your reaction to Google's announcements at I/O for their XR glasses platform and eyewear partnerships? We've been working with EssilorLuxottica for like five years now. That's a long time for a partnership. It takes a while to get really in sync. I feel very good about the state of our partnership. We're able to work quickly. The Oakley Meta glasses are the fastest program we've had by quite a bit. It took less than nine months. I thought the demos they [Google] did were pretty good. I thought some of those were pretty compelling. They didn't announce a product, so I can't react specifically to what they're doing. It's flattering that people see the traction we're getting and want to jump in as well. On the AR glasses front, what have you been learning from Orion now that you've been showing it to the outside world? We've been going full speed on that. We've actually hit some pretty good internal milestones for the next version of it, which is the one we plan to sell. The biggest learning from using them is that we feel increasingly good about the input and interaction model with eye tracking and the neural band. I wore mine during March Madness in the office. I was literally watching the games. Picture yourself sitting at a table with a virtual TV just above people's heads. It was amazing. More to click on: If you haven't already, don't forget to subscribe to The Verge, which includes unlimited access to Command Line and all of our reporting. As always, I welcome your feedback, especially if you've also turned down Zuck. You can respond here or ping me securely on Signal. Thanks for subscribing.
