# Comprehensive News Summary: Meta's Aggressive AI Talent Acquisition and the Escalating AI Talent War --- ### News Metadata * **News Title/Type:** Meta tried to buy Ilya Sutskever’s $32 billion AI startup, but is now planning to hire its CEO / Startup * **Report Provider/Author:** CNBC / Kate Rooney * **Date/Time Period Covered:** Published June 20, 2025 (content reflects events leading up to this date, including "last week" and "earlier this year" in 2025, and "a year ago" referring to Safe Superintelligence's launch around 2024). * **Publisher URL:** https://www.cnbc.com * **News URL:** https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/19/meta-tried-to-buy-safe-superintelligence-hired-ceo-daniel-gross.html --- ### Executive Summary Meta, under CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is executing an aggressive, multi-billion-dollar strategy to significantly enhance its artificial intelligence capabilities through substantial investments and a massive hiring spree. This intense pursuit aims to position Meta as a leader in the next major computing platform and accelerate its development of powerful large language models (LLMs) and the achievement of artificial general intelligence (AGI), defined as AI equal to or greater than human intelligence. This approach has considerably intensified the ongoing "AI talent war" among major tech companies, reflecting a perceived "winner-take-all" dynamic in the burgeoning AI market. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman commented that "Their current AI efforts have not worked as well as they have hoped," suggesting Meta's aggressive strategy is a response to perceived shortcomings. --- ### Meta's Strategic Moves and Financial Commitments 1. **Attempted Acquisition of Safe Superintelligence (SSI) & Subsequent Key Hires:** * **Earlier this year (2025)**, Meta attempted to acquire **Safe Superintelligence (SSI)**, a startup founded by Ilya Sutskever (who launched it "a year ago" after leaving OpenAI). * SSI was reportedly valued at **$32 billion** in a fundraising round in April, underscoring the extremely high market value placed on leading AI ventures, even nascent ones. * Sutskever, however, **rebuffed** Meta's acquisition efforts and their attempt to hire him directly, indicating his commitment to SSI's independent mission. * Following this, Zuckerberg began negotiating with **Daniel Gross**, CEO of Safe Superintelligence, and **Nat Friedman**, former GitHub CEO. * Both Gross and Friedman are now joining Meta as part of the transaction and will work on products under Alexandr Wang. * Meta will also acquire a **stake in NFDG**, their venture capital firm (named after their combined initials). NFDG has backed companies like Coinbase, Figma, CoreWeave, Perplexity, and Character.ai, potentially expanding Meta's influence into a broader AI investment ecosystem. *The Information* was first to report on Meta's plans to hire Gross and Friedman. 2. **Significant Investment in Scale AI:** * **Last week**, Meta agreed to pump a substantial **$14.3 billion** into the artificial intelligence startup **Scale AI**. * This significant investment secured a **49% stake** in Scale AI for Meta, giving them considerable control and access to its technology and data, particularly in high-quality labeled data for AI model training. This implies a total valuation of approximately **$29.18 billion** for Scale AI (calculated as $14.3B / 0.49). * Crucially, the deal also brought Scale AI founder **Alexandr Wang** and "a few other top engineers" to Meta, underscoring that the investment was a strategic move primarily for talent acquisition. 3. **Aggressive Recruitment Tactics & Financial Outlays:** * Meta is actively trying to poach employees from competitors, notably OpenAI. * OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated on the "Uncapped" podcast that Meta has offered signing bonuses "as high as **$100 million**," along with "even larger annual compensation packages," to lure OpenAI talent. * Altman noted that "none of our best people have decided to take them up on that," suggesting strong loyalty among OpenAI's core team despite the astronomical offers. * Mark Zuckerberg has personally engaged in direct outreach to desired candidates, sometimes bypassing traditional, rigorous interview processes to expedite hiring. * Meta's capital expenditures for AI-related initiatives, including infrastructure and personnel, are in the **tens of billions of dollars**, with first-quarter 2025 capital expenditures approaching **$14 billion**. This reflects a "do anything necessary" mentality to control the next major computing platform. --- ### The Escalating AI Talent War The article highlights the fierce competition for AI talent among major tech companies, driven by the race to achieve AGI and Meta's perceived underperformance of its current AI models: * **Meta's Competitive Stance:** Sam Altman mentioned, "I've heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor." He also commented on Meta's AI efforts, stating, "Their current AI efforts have not worked as well as they have hoped and I respect being aggressive and continuing to try new things," implying Meta's current aggressive strategy is a response to perceived shortcomings. * **Scarcity of Talent:** The fundamental driver is the extremely limited global pool of elite AI researchers, estimated to be only a **few hundred to a few thousand** individuals worldwide. * **"Winner-Take-All" Dynamic:** Major tech companies perceive the AI field as a "winner-take-all" scenario, where early dominance could lead to significant market advantages. * **Competitors' Actions:** * **OpenAI:** Paid approximately **$6.5 billion** to hire iPhone designer Jony Ive and acquire his nascent devices startup, io, indicating their own significant investments in talent and potential hardware ventures. OpenAI is also rumored to be offering its top researchers annual compensation exceeding **$10 million** and retention bonuses and equity packages over **$20 million** to prevent defections. * **Google:** Recruited the founders of AI startup **Character.AI** back to the company in a "multibillion-dollar deal" last year, demonstrating Google's willingness to spend big to reclaim talent. Google DeepMind reportedly enforces 6-to-12-month non-compete clauses, paying full salaries to sidelined researchers. * **Microsoft:** Acquired DeepMind co-founder **Mustafa Suleyman** and talent from Inflection AI in a **$650 million** purchase, showcasing a targeted acquisition of key AI leadership. * **Recruitment Challenges:** Meta was reportedly unsuccessful in its attempts to recruit top OpenAI researcher Noam Brown and Google's AI architect Koray Kavukcuoglu, despite its aggressive offers. However, it successfully poached Jack Rae from Google DeepMind and Johan Schalkwyk from Sesame AI. --- ### Key Individuals and Their Backgrounds * **Mark Zuckerberg:** Head of the Facebook group Meta. * **Alexandr Wang:** Founder of Scale AI, now joining Meta. * **Daniel Gross:** CEO of Safe Superintelligence, co-founder of NFDG, joining Meta. He founded the search engine Cue (acquired by Apple in 2013), was a top executive at Apple leading machine learning efforts and Siri development, and a partner at startup accelerator Y Combinator. * **Nat Friedman:** Co-founder of NFDG, joining Meta. He co-founded two startups before becoming the CEO of GitHub following Microsoft's acquisition in 2018. * **Ilya Sutskever:** Founder of Safe Superintelligence, previously a key figure at OpenAI. * **Sam Altman:** CEO of OpenAI. * **Jony Ive:** Renowned iPhone designer, founder of io. * **Mustafa Suleyman:** Co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI. --- ### Outlook and Implications A Meta spokesperson stated that the company "will share more about our superintelligence effort and the great people joining this team in the coming weeks," indicating that further announcements are expected regarding their intensified AI push. The aggressive tactics and significant financial commitments underscore the high stakes involved in the ongoing race to achieve advanced AI capabilities. This competition is driving up salaries across the industry and is influenced by a "strategic FOMO" among tech giants, as well as the desire of leading AI researchers for a "higher purpose" beyond just financial incentives. The future of the tech job market will likely see greater job mobility and an increased focus on employee retention strategies beyond compensation. This dynamic may lead to a concentration of AI expertise within a few dominant firms, making it challenging for smaller entities to compete for top talent and scale independently. While elite AI researchers command exorbitant salaries, there is a contrasting trend for entry-level AI engineers, with recent reports indicating a decline in entry-level hiring in the tech industry, suggesting a focus on experienced, high-impact talent over broader workforce expansion.
Meta tried to buy Ilya Sutskever’s $32 billion AI startup, but is now planning to hire its CEO
Read original at CNBC →At the Meta Connect developer conference, Mark Zuckerberg, head of the Facebook group Meta, shows the prototype of computer glasses that can display digital objects in transparent lenses.Andrej Sokolow | Picture Alliance | Getty ImagesWhen Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg poached Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang last week as part of a $14.
3 billion investment in the artificial intelligence startup, he was apparently just getting started.Zuckerberg's multibillion-dollar AI hiring spree has now turned to Daniel Gross, the CEO of Ilya Sutskever's startup Safe Superintelligence, and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
It's not how Zuckerberg planned for a deal to go down.Earlier this year, sources said, Meta tried to acquire Safe Superintelligence, which was reportedly valued at $32 billion in a fundraising round in April. Sutskever, who just launched the startup a year ago, shortly after leaving OpenAI, rebuffed Meta's efforts, as well as the company's attempt to hire him, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the information is confidential.
Soon after those talks ended, Zuckerberg started negotiating with Gross, the sources said. In addition to his role at Safe Superintelligence, Gross runs a venture capital firm with Friedman called NFDG, their combined initials.Both men are joining Meta as part of the transaction, and will work on products under Wang, one source said.
Meta, meanwhile, will get a stake in NFDG, according to multiple sources.The Information was first to report on Meta's plans to hire Gross and Friedman.Gross, Friedman and Sutskever didn't respond to CNBC's requests for comment.A Meta spokesperson said the company "will share more about our superintelligence effort and the great people joining this team in the coming weeks."
Zuckerberg's aggressive hiring tactics escalate an AI talent war that's reached new heights of late. Meta, Google and OpenAI, along with a host of other big companies and high-valued startups, are racing to develop the most powerful large language models, and pushing towards artificial general intelligence (AGI), or AI that's considered equal to or greater than human intelligence.
Last week, Meta agreed to pump $14.3 billion into Scale AI to bring on Wang and a few other top engineers while getting a 49% stake in the startup.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on the latest episode of the "Uncapped" podcast, which is hosted by his brother, that Meta has tried to lure OpenAI employees by offering signing bonuses as high as $100 million, with even larger annual compensation packages.
Altman said "none of our best people have decided to take them up on that.""I've heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor," Altman said on the podcast. "Their current AI efforts have not worked as well as they have hoped and I respect being aggressive and continuing to try new things."
Meta didn't respond to a request for comment on Altman's remarks.OpenAI, for its part, has gone to similar lengths, paying about $6.5 billion to hire iPhone designer Jony Ive and to acquire his nascent devices startup io.Elsewhere, the founders of AI startup Character.AI were recruited back to Google last year in a multibillion-dollar deal, while DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman was brought on by Microsoft in a $650 million purchase of talent from Inflection AI.
In Gross, Zuckerberg is getting a longtime entrepreneur and AI investor. Gross founded the search engine Cue, which was acquired by Apple in 2013. He was a top executive at Apple and helped lead machine learning efforts and the development of Siri. He was later a partner at startup accelerator Y Combinator, before co‑founding Safe Superintelligence alongside Sutskever.
Friedman co-founded two startups before becoming the CEO of GitHub following Microsoft's acquisition of the code-sharing platform in 2018.NFDG has backed Coinbase, Figma, CoreWeave, Perplexity and Character.ai over the years, according to Pitchbook. It's unclear what happens to its investment portfolio in a Meta deal, a source said.
WATCH: Zuckerberg, Altman feud for top AI talent
