Meta has announced major changes to stay ahead of the artificial intelligence (AI) competition. The company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an internal document on Monday that a new unit called the 'Meta Superintelligence Lab' (MSL) has been formed to reshape the AI ​​sector.


The new team has recruited a total of 11 researchers and software engineers from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. They include former DeepMind researchers Jack Ray and Pei Sun, OpenAI’s Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Biu, Shengjia Zhao and Hongyu Ren. The team also includes Anthropic’s Joel Pober, who previously worked at Meta for more than a decade.


The unit will be led by Alexander Wang, former CEO of Scale AI. He will serve as MSL’s chief AI officer. In addition, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman will lead the team in partnership with Wang and oversee Meta’s AI-based products and applied research.


Zuckerberg wrote in his internal message, “As the pace of AI advances accelerates, the possibility of creating superintelligence is increasingly within our reach. I believe this will usher in a new era for humanity, and I am fully committed to making Meta a pioneer in this direction.”


Meta is already investing heavily in AI research and projects. The company has said it will spend “hundreds of billions of dollars” over the next few years. However, Zuckerberg acknowledged that many companies are “overinvesting” in the sector.


“There is a meaningful potential in this sector,” he said. So many companies may be investing more now. But I think those who are investing are making a rational decision. Because the downside of being behind is that you are falling behind in the race for the most important technologies of the next 10 to 15 years.”


The new MSL unit will house Meta’s Large Language Model-focused team, the AI ​​product development team, and Meta’s Fundamental Research (FAIR) team. In addition, a new research laboratory is being formed to develop “next-generation AI models.”


Zuckerberg has given top priority to AI technology this year. He aims to build modern AI assistants and models to compete with rivals OpenAI and Google. To do so, Meta is spending big on data centers, chips and hiring talent.


Earlier this month, Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI and hired Wang. Meta is also in talks with Perplexity AI and Runway AI. It is also preparing to acquire small startup Play AI, which uses artificial intelligence to mimic voices.


Zuckerberg himself has taken the initiative to add talent to Meta’s AI team. He has invited potential candidates to his homes in Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe, California. Many of them have been offered multi-billion dollar share packages, which shows the depth of commitment and competition in Meta’s AI sector.


Meta’s share price reached $47.90 on Monday, the company’s highest price ever.