Today, Explained $250 million to work for Meta
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Aug 28, 2025 Riley Griffin, a tech reporter for Bloomberg News, and Garrett DeVink, a tech writer for The Washington Post, discuss the rapidly evolving world of superintelligence at Meta. They dive into Meta's ambitious goals and its heavy investments in AI amidst fierce competition, particularly with OpenAI. The conversation touches on the tech industry's aggressive hiring practices and the financial stakes for job seekers. They also explore the promise and pitfalls of AI advancements, including the need for skepticism in the face of hype surrounding new technologies.
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Zuckerberg's Aggressive Talent Blitz
- Mark Zuckerberg personally recruited top AI talent and offered up to hundreds of millions to close Meta's talent gap.
- Meta formed a secretive superintelligence lab to catch up after internal disappointment with Llama's rollout.
Meta's Academic Roots And Product Gap
- Meta once led AI research with people like Yann LeCun and a homegrown research lab.
- The arrival of consumer-facing ChatGPT exposed Meta's gap between academic work and product execution.
Talent Over Infrastructure
- Meta is spending massively and reorganizing to pursue AI dominance, treating talent as the scarce resource.
- Leadership views hiring a few top specialists as essential to steer huge infrastructure spending into competitive models.