The $1 billion offer from Meta to recruit Thinking Machines Lab talent has been completely declined which damages Mark Zuckerberg’s Superintelligence Labs goals. Wired reports that Mira Murati’s team members have refused Meta’s proposal for compensation between $200 million and $1 billion spread across four years.
The seed round valuation of Thinking Machines Lab reached $12 billion after the company launched no products. The company has quickly become prominent because of its exceptional team members and its aggressive pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
The employees chose not to join Meta because they were unhappy about the selection of Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang and ex-GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to lead Superintelligence Labs. The general employee rejection stemmed from Wang’s leadership approach and his insufficient experience in the field.
The employees at Thinking Machines Lab express disinterest in Meta’s approach because they believe the company produces “AI slop” for Facebook and Instagram instead of developing innovative AI technology. The strong refusal demonstrates the expanding gap between innovative AI startups and Big Tech’s profit-driven initiatives.
