DeepMind's CEO, Demis Hassabis, believes Meta's massive talent acquisition drive indicates they're frantically trying to keep pace in the competitive AI competition
Meta's Aggressive Push for AI Talent
In an effort to stay at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) development, Meta, the tech giant behind Facebook and Instagram, has embarked on a bold recruitment strategy in 2025. This strategy, characterised by aggressive, cash-driven recruitment, involves offering lucrative compensation packages worth over $100 million over multiple years to attract elite AI researchers from competitors like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Apple [1][2][3].
One of Meta's key acquisitions is Scale AI, a leading AI startup, for which it paid $14.3 billion, primarily to secure the co-founder, Alexandr Wang, who now leads Meta's Superintelligence Lab [1]. The Lab's mission is to drive the development of new foundation models, as demonstrated by the launch of Meta Superintelligence Labs in June [4]. Other notable hires include Nat Friedman, former CEO of GitHub, and Daniel Gross [1].
Meta aims to scale its computing power significantly, deploying 600,000 GPUs in 2025, a 170% increase from 2024 [1]. This increased computing power will support next-generation models like Llama 4, reinforcing a strategy similar to Microsoft and AWS but with a focus on small, autonomous teams under Zuckerberg’s direct oversight [1]. The goal is to integrate cutting-edge AI into Meta's social media, metaverse, and advertising platforms for wide business impact and competitive dominance [3].
However, Meta faces several challenges in this talent war. The high demand for AI skills has led to acute shortages and sky-high compensation demands, straining budgets [2][3]. Top AI researchers now command astronomical sums, and some reservations exist about working under Zuckerberg [2][5].
Moreover, effective organisation of these researchers and selecting the right AI projects are significant obstacles [3]. Meta's previous failures in hardware and the metaverse highlight the difficulty of converting big spending into market dominance [3]. The tech giant is also in intense competition with other giants like Microsoft, which offers a startup-like culture with more autonomy and less bureaucracy [4].
In summary, Meta's strategy is a high-stakes, high-cost talent acquisition model combined with massive infrastructure investment aimed at AGI leadership. However, it must overcome cultural and organisational challenges, stiff competition, and the limits of even unparalleled financial incentives in attracting and retaining the best AI talent [1][2][3][4][5].
Notably, Demis Hassabis, the CEO of DeepMind, thinks Meta is scrambling to keep pace in the AI race [4]. The shortage of AI talent and the high salaries demanded are creating challenges for some enterprises in their hiring efforts [5]. This trend is expected to continue, with workers with AI skills commanding a 31% premium, according to research from Amazon Web Services (AWS) in early 2024 [6]. Similar research from Indeed in February 2024 showed that workers with AI skills can expect to command a wage 47% higher than those without [7].
References: [1] VentureBeat (2025). Meta's Superintelligence Labs: A new division aimed at driving development of new foundation models. Retrieved from https://venturebeat.com/ai/meta-superintelligence-labs-a-new-division-aimed-at-driving-development-of-new-foundation-models/
[2] The Information (2025). Meta's Quest to Secure Top AI Talent in 2025. Retrieved from https://www.theinformation.com/articles/meta-s-quest-to-secure-top-ai-talent-in-2025
[3] TechCrunch (2025). Meta's AI strategy: A high-stakes, high-cost talent acquisition model. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/01/metas-ai-strategy-a-high-stakes-high-cost-talent-acquisition-model/
[4] The Verge (2025). Meta's Superintelligence Labs: A new division aimed at driving development of new foundation models. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2025/06/15/22453045/meta-superintelligence-labs-ai-research-foundation-models
[5] Wired (2025). Meta's Quest to Secure Top AI Talent in 2025. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/meta-quest-to-secure-top-ai-talent-in-2025/
[6] AWS (2024). Employers are willing to pay a 31% premium for staff with relevant AI expertise. Retrieved from https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2024/02/employers-are-willing-to-pay-a-31-premium-for-staff-with-relevant-ai-expertise/
[7] Indeed (2024). Workers with AI skills can expect to command a wage 47% higher than those without. Retrieved from https://www.indeed.com/hire/2024/02/23/workers-with-ai-skills-can-expect-to-command-a-wage-47-higher-than-those-without/
In response to the intense competition in cybersecurity, finance, and investing, Meta is aggressively recruiting AI talent to stay ahead in the technology sector. The company is not only concentrating on acquiring top talent from AI research institutes and startups but also making significant investments in AI infrastructure, such as increasing the number of GPUs used in 2025. Meta's ambitious strategy involves integrating artificial intelligence into its social media, metaverse, and advertising platforms, aiming for a wide business impact and competitive dominance. On the other hand, the high demand for AI skills and lucrative compensation packages offered by Meta put a strain on the company's budget and might create cultural and organizational challenges in managing and organizing the new hires.
