Jun 20, 2025 - Business

Meta reportedly plans big new AI hires

Dan Primack

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

Meta is in advanced talks to hire Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman as part of its new AI lab, per multiple reports. It also would take a stake in the pair's venture capital firm, NFDG.

Why it matters: This would be the second time this month that Meta has poached the top exec of an AI decacorn, as Gross currently serves as CEO of Safe Superintelligence.

Unlike the recent deal with Scale AI and Alexandr Wang, this one seems contentious. CNBC reports that Meta recently tried to acquire Safe Superintelligence but was rebuffed by founder Ilya Sutskever.
Safe Superintelligence recently was valued at $32 billion in a Greenoaks-led round that also included Nvidia, Lightspeed, a16z, Alphabet, and DST Global.
As we discussed in March 2024, this generation of AI founders seems unusually willing to leave their startups for incumbents.

Zoom in: Meta, which has never had a corporate venture fund, would buy out limited partners in NFDG, per The Information.

A Meta spokesperson declined to confirm any news on Gross and Friedman (formerly CEO of Github) to Axios, saying only: "We will share more about our superintelligence effort and the great people joining this team in the coming weeks."

The bottom line: Mark Zuckerberg is trying to acqui-hire his way to the head of the AI class.

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Meta reportedly plans big new AI hires

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