From acquisition to talent war: Meta’s AI strategy enters a new phase

Meta, the tech giant behind Facebook and Instagram, has just signaled a bold change in its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy. After failing to acquire the much-hyped AI startup Safe Superintelligence, founded by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever and entrepreneur Daniel Gross, Meta has pivoted to securing something even more valuable – the minds behind the innovation. This recruitment shift underscores a growing trend in Silicon Valley: talent has become the most valuable commodity in the AI arms race.

The failed acquisition and the strategic pivot to recruitment

According to sources familiar with the matter, Meta made an attempt earlier this year to acquire Safe Superintelligence – the high-profile startup founded shortly after Sutskever’s departure from OpenAI. The company was recently valued at $32 billion during a funding round in April. Sutskever rejected the offer, declining both the acquisition and a recruitment offer to join Meta’s AI unit directly.

Instead of walking away, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg initiated negotiations with Daniel Gross – Sutskever’s co-founder – and Nat Friedman, former CEO of GitHub and Gross’s partner in the venture capital firm NFDG. Both men will reportedly join Meta’s new superintelligence division, working under the leadership of Alexander Wang, founder of Scale AI, who was himself brought into Meta last week in a $14.3 billion investment deal.

The agreement also includes Meta taking an equity stake in NFDG, which has previously backed high-profile companies such as Coinbase, Figma, Perplexity, and Character.ai.

The AI talent war intensifies

This move is the latest escalation in a now full-blown talent war among tech giants. Meta, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI are no longer competing only on product features or model performance – they are fiercely contesting over the top minds building the next generation of large language models and AGI (artificial general intelligence).

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently stated on a podcast that Meta had offered OpenAI engineers signing bonuses of up to $100 million to switch companies – offers that were ultimately declined. “I’ve heard Meta sees us as their biggest competitor,” Altman remarked, “and I respect their aggression and drive to try new things.”

Other tech giants also ramping up M&A and talent acquisition

Meta’s aggressive talent recruitment comes in parallel to similar moves by its competitors. Microsoft, for example, acquired much of Inflection AI’s team for $650 million. Google brought back the founders of Character.ai in a multi-billion-dollar deal. And OpenAI invested $6.5 billion to hire famed iPhone designer Jony Ive and acquire his AI-focused hardware startup io.

The current strategy isn’t just about acquiring startups – it’s about acquiring founders and technologists with a proven track record of breakthrough innovation.

Who are the new recruits: Gross and Friedman’s deep AI credentials

Daniel Gross brings a rich background in AI and entrepreneurship. He founded the search engine Cue, which was acquired by Apple in 2013, and later led machine learning efforts for Siri. Gross was also a partner at Y Combinator before co-founding Safe Superintelligence with Sutskever.

Nat Friedman, for his part, co-founded two startups and later became GitHub’s CEO following Microsoft’s acquisition of the platform. Together, the two also manage NFDG, a venture capital fund that has made influential investments across the AI ecosystem.

With Gross and Friedman joining forces with Wang under Meta’s new superintelligence division, the company is positioning itself for a full-scale offensive in the AI landscape.

Strategic implications: Meta rebuilding its AI lead

While Meta has heavily invested in AR/VR and the metaverse in recent years, it has lagged behind OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google in generative AI. By securing high-profile AI entrepreneurs, Meta is signaling that it intends to catch up – and fast.

Sources suggest Meta may also integrate NFDG’s investment insights into its broader innovation strategy, potentially using the firm’s network and capital allocation expertise to identify the next wave of AI breakthroughs.

Conclusion: Meta’s new battlefield is talent

Meta’s latest move shows a strategic shift from building or buying technology to building and acquiring the builders themselves. In an era where progress in AI hinges more than ever on the quality of teams, human capital has become the key asset.

Zuckerberg’s approach – to centralize talent, ambition, and capital under a unified AI vision – could prove decisive in determining whether Meta regains its innovation edge or continues playing catch-up in a hyper-competitive market.