Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, 41, is reshaping the company’s AI efforts to focus on superintelligence, or AI that surpasses human intelligence.

In a memo to staff on Monday, which was fully published by CNBC, Zuckerberg announced the establishment of a new entity dubbed Meta Superintelligence Labs, or MSL, to spearhead Meta’s AI efforts going forward. Leading this initiative will be Alexandr Wang, the 28-year-old ex-CEO of Scale AI, a startup specializing in AI training data. Wang will take on the newly minted position of Meta’s Chief AI Officer, distinct from the role of Chief AI Scientist held by Yann LeCun.

Zuckerberg referred to Wang in the memo as the “most impressive founder of his generation” and noted that Nat Friedman, the former CEO of GitHub, would collaborate with Wang in steering the MSL unit. This new division will integrate existing Meta teams focused on the development of AI models and products, as well as include the company’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team.

In the memo, Zuckerberg emphasized the rapid pace of AI advancements, stating that the development of superintelligence is becoming a tangible goal. “I believe this marks the start of a new era for humanity, and I am completely dedicated to ensuring Meta is at the forefront of this change,” he wrote.

Meta previously announced a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI earlier this month in exchange for a 49% stake and fresh talent from the startup, including Wang.

^{Alexandr Wang. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

Zuckerberg also wrote that Meta would bring on 11 new hires for MSL, including researchers from competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. The new team includes former Google DeepMind researchers Jack Rae and Pei Sun, OpenAI researchers Trapit Bansal and Hongyu Ren, and Anthropic software engineer Joel Pobar.

In the memo, Zuckerberg said that Meta’s vision for AI was “personal superintelligence for everyone” and that the company was going to start working on its next generation of AI models to debut “in the next year or so.”

^{Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

Meta has a broad reach: Zuckerberg disclosed in May that the company’s AI is used by more than one billion monthly active users across its apps, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The company is also investing heavily in AI, with plans to spend $60 billion to $65 billion this year alone on AI infrastructure.

Meta also isn’t afraid to spend heavily on AI talent. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated earlier this month that Meta was offering “$100 million signing bonuses” and “more than that” in compensation to many OpenAI researchers in an effort to poach talent.

Meta’s CTO, Andrew Bosworth, refuted the claims last week in a leaked all-hands meeting, saying that Altman was “being dishonest” about the signing bonuses and compensation.

“Look, you guys, the market’s hot,” Bosworth said at the meeting. “It’s not that hot.”

Meta is the sixth most valuable company in the world, at press time, with a market cap of over $1.8 trillion.