Aug 27, 05:45 PM

Meta’s Superintelligence Lab Loses Eight Employees Including Rishabh Agarwal and Chaya Nayak Amid Billion-Dollar Hiring Spree

Meta's Superintelligence Lab, launched by Mark Zuckerberg just two months ago, is experiencing notable staff departures, including at least eight researchers and engineers. Among those who have left are three early hires, with two AI researchers, Avi Verma and Ethan Knight, returning to OpenAI after less than a month at Meta. Additionally, Rishabh Agarwal, a top AI researcher with previous experience at Google Brain and DeepMind, resigned despite receiving a million-dollar salary, citing a desire to pursue different risks. Chaya Nayak, Meta's director of generative AI product management, has also departed to join OpenAI. Furthermore, Shengjia Zhao, co-creator of OpenAI's ChatGPT and appointed chief AI scientist at Meta, threatened to resign within days of joining and reportedly signed paperwork to rejoin OpenAI before remaining at Meta. Sources attribute these departures and internal instability to Meta's ongoing reorganization efforts and execution challenges, which have caused concerns about work stability among employees. The departures come shortly after a billion-dollar hiring spree aimed at building Meta's AI capabilities.