Meta’s ambitious push into artificial intelligence has hit a sudden roadblock. Three high-profile hires—Rishabh Agarwal, Avi Verma, and Ethan Knight—have left Meta’s newly formed Superintelligence Labs (MSL) within weeks of joining, despite being lured with what reports describe as extravagant pay packages.
According to Wired, Avi Verma and Ethan Knight have already returned to Sam Altman-led OpenAI, while Rishabh Agarwal publicly announced his departure on X (formerly Twitter). In his post, Agarwal described the decision as bittersweet, writing:
“This is my last week at @AIatMeta. It was a tough decision not to continue with the new Superintelligence TBD lab, especially given the talent and compute density. But after 7.5 years across Google Brain, DeepMind, and Meta, I felt the pull to take on a different kind of risk.”
Meta Calls Moves “Normal” Amid Hiring Freeze
While the exits raised eyebrows across the tech industry, Meta has downplayed the shake-up. Company spokesperson Dave Arnold told Wired:
“During an intense recruiting process, some people will decide to stay in their current job rather than start a new one. This is normal.”
The timing, however, is notable. On August 20, The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta had imposed a hiring freeze for its AI division, even after onboarding nearly 50 staff from competitors, including Apple, Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and xAI. Many of these hires reportedly received compensation packages worth up to $100 million.
Meta later clarified that the freeze was part of “basic organizational planning” and annual budgeting.
Rivalry with OpenAI Intensifies
Meta’s aggressive poaching strategy hasn’t gone unnoticed. In an internal memo, Sam Altman reportedly described Meta’s approach as “distasteful,” adding: “I’ve lost track of how many people from here they’ve tried to get to be their Chief Scientist.”
The rivalry highlights the intense competitiveness of the race for top AI talent.
Zuckerberg Defends Big Spending on AI Talent
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, however, has consistently defended the company’s hiring strategy, pushing back against reports of $100–200 million paychecks for MSL recruits. In an interview with The Information, he called those figures “inaccurate” but acknowledged the premium on top talent.
“It’s a hot market. You actually kind of want the smallest group of people who can fit the whole thing in their heads. So there’s just an absolute premium for the best and most talented people,” Zuckerberg said.
He further argued that, compared to Meta’s broader investment in superintelligence research, the spending on top-tier AI talent remains relatively small.
What This Means for Meta’s AI Push
The abrupt exits highlight the volatile talent war in AI, where loyalty is fragile, and companies like Meta and OpenAI are willing to pay extraordinary sums to attract researchers and engineers. With Meta now pausing new hires for its AI division, industry watchers will be closely following how Zuckerberg’s Superintelligence Labs regroups and whether the company can retain its high-profile recruits in the months ahead.
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