Meta’s Superintelligence Lab Faces Massive Talent Exodus – What’s Behind the Turnover?

In early July, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the creation of Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), a new AI research team that recruited more than 50 experts from Google, Apple, xAI, Anthropic and other leading firms, offering contracts with salaries exceeding $100 million per year.

Despite the lucrative offers and direct outreach via email and WhatsApp, the team quickly experienced a “talent exodus.” Within two months, several high‑profile researchers left, including Bert Maher (who joined Anthropic), Tony Liu (who announced his departure on LinkedIn), Chi‑Hao Wu (who moved to Memories.ai), Aram Markosyan (who left for an unknown destination), Chaya Nayak (who joined OpenAI), and multiple engineers who returned to OpenAI after brief stints at Meta.

Industry observers, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, criticized Meta’s aggressive poaching as “offensive,” while internal sources reported growing friction as long‑standing employees grew resentful of the rapid promotions and high salaries granted to newcomers.

Analysts point to three main challenges: (1) frequent reorganizations and manager changes creating instability, (2) difficulty retaining top talent even with massive compensation, and (3) intense external competition from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, which continue to attract AI experts.

Meta spokesperson Dave Arnold acknowledged that some employees choose to stay with their current companies during aggressive hiring periods, describing the turnover as a normal phenomenon in a competitive market.