Meta freezes AI hiring after blockbuster spending spree

Meta Platforms has frozen hiring in its artificial intelligence division following months of aggressive recruitment, according to sources familiar with the matter.  The hiring freeze, which took effect last week, coincides with a broader restructuring of the company and restricts current employees from moving between teams within the AI division. The duration of the freeze has not been disclosed. There might be exceptions to the block on external hires, but they would need permission from Metas chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, the sources said. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the freeze, describing it as basic organizational planning: creating a solid structure for our new superintelligence efforts after bringing people on board and undertaking yearly budgeting and planning exercises. Meta has been a leading player in the AI talent race, offering some researchers pay packages worth nine figures and acquiring startups to secure key personnel. Analysts have raised concerns over the high cost of such hiring, warning that Metas stock-based compensation could affect shareholder returns. The restructuring divides Metas AI operations into four teams: TBD Lab, focused on superintelligence; an AI products team; an infrastructure team; and a long-term exploratory team called Fundamental AI Research. The reorganization follows criticism of the companys previous AGI Foundations team, responsible for Metas Llama large language models, which underperformed expectations after its latest release. After the Llama release in April, CEO Mark Zuckerberg became personally involved in recruiting, reaching out to researchers at OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and other labs. Offers sometimes reached $100 million in total compensation, with one overture to Thinking Machines Lab co-founder Andrew Tulloch valued at $1.5 billion, though he declined. To strengthen its AI efforts, Meta also brought on Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and Safe Superintelligence co-founder Daniel Gross, with the company acquiring stakes in their ventures as part of the recruitment. By mid-August, Meta had hired over 50 AI researchers and engineers from companies including OpenAI, Google, Apple, xAI, and Anthropic. Investor concern over the cost of tech giants AI expansions has contributed to a recent selloff in technology stocks. In an August 18 research note, Morgan Stanley analysts warned that rising stock-based compensation at Meta and Google could either drive AI breakthroughs or dilute shareholder value without clear innovation gains.The post Meta freezes AI hiring after blockbuster spending spree appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.