Meta’s partnership with Scale AI, a key part of its $14.3 billion investment to lead the AI race, may already be facing strain. Just two months after the deal was announced, reports indicate that internal friction is causing significant tension within the company’s newly-formed Superintelligence Lab (MSL). This has led to a series of high-profile departures from the team.Citing sources close to the company, a report by TechCrunch said that a significant reason for the turmoil stems from the company’s partnership with Scale AI and the subsequent integration of new leadership, raising questions about the stability of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitious AI push.
Employees blame Meta bureaucratic hurdles as reason for problems
Citing two former and one current MSL employee, the report said that the AI unit has become increasingly chaotic since the arrival of Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang and a wave of new researchers. Top talent recruited from rivals like OpenAI and Scale AI have expressed frustration with the bureaucratic hurdles of a large corporation, while Meta’s existing GenAI team has seen its scope and influence diminish, the report added.Another reason cited for the internal strife is CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s frustration with the underwhelming launch of Llama 4 in April. The third reason reported is the instability of the team. In a rushed effort to catch up with competitors, Zuckerberg launched a campaign to recruit top AI talent and strike deals. This included bringing in Wang, a move some viewed as unconventional given his lack of experience managing teams within a massive tech giant. Zuckerberg also reportedly held talks with more traditional candidates like OpenAI’s chief research officer, Mark Chen, and attempted to acquire the startups of Ilya Sutskever and Mira Murati, but all of them declined.The instability has led to a number of quick exits. As previously reported by Wired, some of the new AI researchers brought in from OpenAI have already left Meta. The latest departure is MSL AI researcher Rishabh Agarwal, who announced his exit on X last week. Meta director Chaya Nayak also joined OpenAI.
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