Meta Names Ex OpenAI Star to Head Superintelligence Labs

Meta Creates Superintelligence Labs

Meta has officially launched Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), marking its boldest move yet in the race toward artificial superintelligence. Announced by Mark Zuckerberg on Threads, this dedicated arm will focus on building and aligning AI systems that could surpass human-level intelligence. MSL joins Meta’s existing AI research—FAIR—but with a direct line to product and mission goals.

Shengjia Zhao Takes the Helm

Meta has appointed Shengjia Zhao, a former OpenAI researcher and co-creator of GPT-4, as Chief Scientist of MSL. Zhao’s track record includes foundational work on GPT-4 and GPT-4o, plus influential papers on generative models and fairness at top AI conferences. In his announcement, Zhao expressed excitement about building and aligning artificial superintelligence to “empower people.”

The High-Stakes AI Talent Race

MSL’s creation comes amid a multibillion-dollar hiring blitz. Meta has lured top minds from OpenAI, Google, Apple, Anthropic and Scale AI, offering compensation packages rumored to reach hundreds of millions. This aggressive recruitment underscores Meta’s urgency to secure elite talent before rivals can.

From Llama 4 to ASI Ambitions

Meta’s superintelligence push follows a mixed reception of its open-source Llama 4 models. While pitched as leaps in multimodal reasoning, Llama 4 faced performance inconsistencies and benchmarking controversies. MSL aims to rebuild momentum with a sharper product and mission focus—aligning research breakthroughs directly to real-world applications.

The Road Ahead

Meta’s declaration that superintelligence is “the next frontier” signals a shift from incremental improvements to moonshot ambitions. With Zhao leading MSL alongside Zuckerberg and Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, the company is betting its own capital—hundreds of billions in compute—to race toward ASI. The world will be watching whether this gamble defines the next era of AI.