That's It For Now: Meta Halts AI Hiring After Poaching Over 50 With Multi-Million Offers: Report

After doling out multi-million-dollar offers, including for acquisitions, Meta has halted hiring for its artificial intelligence (AI) teams even as it continues to restructure operations internally, according to a Wall Street Journal report published late Wednesday.

The report, which cited unnamed sources and a confirmation from Meta, stated that the company poached over 50 AI researchers and engineers. The development signals an expected maturation of Meta's AI efforts after the aggressive months-long hiring spree.

The hiring freeze was communicated internally last week, the report stated, adding that there could be exceptions for external hires, but those would need to be approved by the chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang.

The move is "basic organizational planning: creating a solid structure for our new superintelligence efforts after bringing people on board and undertaking yearly budgeting and planning exercises," a Meta spokesperson told the WSJ.

Meanwhile, Meta has reportedly restructured its AI unit, Superintelligence Labs, into four groups: a new "TBD Lab," short for to be determined; a products team including the Meta AI assistant; an infrastructure team; and the Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab focused on long-term research.

Stocktwits earlier reported that Meta has poached talent from companies such as OpenAI, Apple, and Google, and has attempted to hire from former OpenAI executives’ startups, such as Ilya Sutskever’s Safe Superintelligence and Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab.

In June, Meta acquired a 49% stake in enterprise-focused AI startup Scale AI for $14.3 billion. As part of the deal, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang joined Meta to lead its new superintelligence unit.

Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) comprises the company's foundational AI model teams, product groups, and its longstanding FAIR division. Nat Friedman, former GitHub CEO, co‑leads MSL with Wang.

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for Meta held in the 'bearish' zone, while the stock dropped marginally in after-hours trading. Up till their last close, META shares are up 27.7% year-to-date.

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