Latest news with #Llama4
Ammon
2 hours ago
- Business
- Ammon
Meta reportedly hires four more researchers from OpenAI
Ammon News - Looks like Meta isn't done poaching talent from OpenAI. Earlier this week, TechCrunch reported that Meta had hired influential OpenAI researcher Trapit Bansal, and according to The Wall Street Journal, it also hired three other researchers from the company. Now The Information is reporting four more Meta hires from OpenAI: Researchers Shengjia Zhao, Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, and Hongyu Ren. This hiring spree comes after the April launch of Meta's Llama 4 AI models, which reportedly did not perform as well as CEO Mark Zuckerberg had hoped. (The company was also criticized over the version of Llama that it used for a popular benchmark.) There's been some back-and-forth between the two companies, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggesting that Meta was offering '$100 million signing bonuses' while adding that 'so far, none of our best people' have left. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth then told employees that while senior leaders may have been offered that kind of money, 'the actual terms of the offer' were more complex than a simple one-time signing bonus.
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First Post
4 hours ago
- Business
- First Post
Hunt for AI supremacy: Meta poaches more OpenAI researchers as talent war rages on
Tensions between the two companies have simmered publicly for months. OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman previously claimed that Meta was offering '100 million signing bonuses' to tempt his employees away read more Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta's campaign to lure away some of OpenAI's top researchers appears to be continuing at pace, with several high-profile names reportedly switching sides in what has become one of Silicon Valley's most intense rivalries. After the Wall Street Journal reported that three researchers had left OpenAI for Meta earlier this week, TechCrunch confirmed that Trapit Bansal, an influential figure in OpenAI's research ranks, had also joined the company. Now, The Information has named four more hires from OpenAI: Shengjia Zhao, Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi and Hongyu Ren. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The new appointments follow Meta's launch of its Llama 4 AI models in April. The models were met with a mixed response, with some reports suggesting they had not met the expectations of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The company was also criticised over how it used an earlier version of Llama in a benchmark widely cited in AI performance comparisons. OpenAI, Meta tensions continue Tensions between the two companies have simmered publicly for months. OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman previously claimed that Meta was offering '100 million signing bonuses' to tempt his employees away, though he added that 'so far, none of our best people' had accepted. Meta's chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth later addressed the remarks in an internal note, telling staff that while such figures may have been discussed at senior levels, 'the actual terms of the offer' were more complex. The race to secure top-tier talent has become increasingly fierce, as tech giants seek an edge in developing powerful foundation models and generative AI systems. Meta's latest recruitment wave suggests that, while some key OpenAI figures have resisted its advances, the company is steadily building its own cadre of AI researchers in hopes of catching up.
India Today
6 hours ago
- Business
- India Today
Meta snags more OpenAI talent after Sam Altman says his best people are not leaving
Meta is doubling down on its artificial intelligence ambitions, intensifying its hiring spree by luring a growing number of researchers from rival OpenAI. Over the past few weeks, Meta has quietly poached several high-profile AI scientists from OpenAI, including Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai, all based at OpenAI's Zurich office. Trapit Bansal, a key figure in OpenAI's research team, also recently joined Meta. But this is not it. The Information revealed that four additional researchers, Shengjia Zhao, Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, and Hongyu Ren, have also made the switch to Meta, adding further fuel to speculation about aggressive recruitment flurry of departures from OpenAI has drawn attention from across the tech industry, not least because of a viral claim made by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that Meta was dangling signing bonuses worth up to $100 million to attract top talent. While Altman suggested that none of OpenAI's "best people" had accepted the offer, employees are moving to Meta in just a blink. At an all-hands meeting held shortly after Altman's remarks went public, Meta's Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth addressed employee questions head-on. According to The Verge, Bosworth pushed back strongly, accusing Altman of dishonesty and exaggeration. 'He's known to stretch the truth,' Bosworth said, adding that while Meta might offer substantial packages for certain roles, the idea of a blanket $100 million sign-on was 'wildly misleading.' Bosworth clarified that only a 'very, very small number' of extremely senior individuals might receive compensation packages in that ballpark—and even then, it wouldn't take the form of a straightforward signing bonus. 'It's far more complex than a one-off cheque,' he credibility to Bosworth's rebuttal, the researchers at the centre of the controversy—Beyer, Kolesnikov, and Zhai—took to X (formerly Twitter) to confirm they had joined Meta, but dismissed the $100 million figure as 'fake news.' Their collective denial further underscores the murky nature of compensation disclosures in Silicon Valley's high-stakes AI timing of these hires is particularly notable. Meta recently unveiled its Llama 4 family of AI models, which received a lukewarm reception compared to expectations reportedly set by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The company's AI strategy has faced criticism, especially concerning benchmark transparency and performance metrics. In this context, the addition of elite researchers from OpenAI may be a strategic move to bolster Meta's AI credibility and future himself appears to be taking a hands-on approach. Reports suggest he has personally reached out to AI professionals with lucrative offers and is spearheading efforts to bring in talent from across the sector. During the internal meeting, Bosworth hinted that more high-level recruits from OpenAI were on the way, though he declined to reveal further a separate push to expand its AI footprint, The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta has invested $14 billion in Scale AI, a startup founded by Alexandr Wang. - Ends
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Meta Platforms (META) Considers Using Rival AI Models Instead of Llama
Tech giant Meta Platforms (META) is reportedly thinking about pulling back from its own Llama language models in favor of models from rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic, according to The New York Times. This would be a big shift in strategy, since Meta's Llama models are open-source, meaning others can use and modify them, while OpenAI and Anthropic use 'closed' models that aren't open to the public. So far, no final decision has been made. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter This possible change comes after the rocky launch of Meta's Llama 4 models in April. Indeed, Meta introduced the models during its LlamaCon event, but they didn't perform as well as competing AI models, and many developers left the event unimpressed. Since then, Meta has been spending heavily to catch up. Earlier this month, it announced a $14.3 billion investment to buy nearly half of Scale AI. As part of that deal, Scale's CEO Alexandr Wang will join Meta to lead its 'superintelligence' team, which is focused on creating artificial general intelligence. Meta is also making bold moves to attract top AI talent. Reports say that the company is offering massive signing bonuses—up to $100 million—to hire researchers from OpenAI. On top of that, Meta is in talks to buy PlayAI, which is a startup that creates realistic AI voices. The company had even looked into acquiring other AI firms like Perplexity AI, Runway AI, and FuriosaAI before choosing to invest in Scale. Altogether, these efforts show how serious Meta is about becoming a leader in the AI space under CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Is Meta a Buy, Sell, or Hold? Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on META stock based on 42 Buys, three Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average META price target of $716.48 per share implies that shares are near fair value.
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Why Mark Zuckerberg is making a $14 billion bet on an AI startup
Charles Rollet is a rockstar tech reporter who recently joined Business Insider. He's knocked out several scoops about Scale AI lately. This is the startup that Meta is investing in. Founder Alexandr Wang is also joining Meta. If you want to understand what Mark Zuckerberg is buying, Charles's coverage is a must-read. He broke news on how Google used Scale AI to chase ChatGPT and led exclusive reporting on how big Scale AI customers are deserting the startup. There's also an astounding story on how Scale AI left sensitive data about Google, xAI, and Meta open for anyone on the web to see. I asked Charles what he thought of this peculiar deal. Why is Zuck paying so much? If you want a cutting-edge AI model, one way to do that is by having humans rewrite millions of chatbot responses and do lots of other little tricks to painstakingly improve each AI answer. Our reporting shows that Scale AI specializes in this kind of work: it's what Scale AI did to help Google catch up with ChatGPT, for example. This kind of expertise is valuable for Zuck as he seeks to release new models that blow everyone away. The lukewarm reception to Llama 4 clearly got to him, and he's taking aggressive action. What's the future of Scale AI now, and how can it help Meta and Zuck's AI ambitions? Or is this just a massive acquihire of Alexandr Wang? It was stunning to see Google pull Scale AI projects hours after the Meta investment was announced. It's an open question whether Scale AI can regain that kind of lost revenue. But I don't think Meta will just let Scale AI peter out and die. Meta now has much more direct access to Scale AI for training its latest models. Zuck needs Llama models to be at, or very near, the top of AI benchmarks. And Scale AI has a good idea of what works and what doesn't, along with the platform to make things happen. This deal wasn't solely about hiring Wang — no offense to Alex, but there were probably cheaper ways to do that. What has your Scale AI reporting revealed about how AI models are developed? Training AI models requires a ton of human labor. A key way to improve models is through Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback, or RLHF. Scale AI's biggest platform, Remotasks, has more than 240,000 human contributors doing this stuff. Ironically, automation is something of a problem here: It turns out that these humans often prefer to copy and paste answers from ChatGPT instead of giving genuine human feedback. We noticed many examples of humans being banned from Scale AI's platforms for doing this. What else should BI readers know about this situation? Zuck made a huge bet with Scale AI. People have been comparing this to the Metaverse, which burned billions and hasn't panned out yet. But if Meta starts to climb AI rankings and gets Llama models performing much better, this could be seen as a wise move — closer to Facebook buying Instagram.
