Mark Zuckerberg Secretly Hires AI Geniuses Behind OpenAI and Google

In the world of Silicon Valley, competition is a blood sport, and Mark Zuckerberg seems determined to prove he can still throw the hardest punches. This week, a leaked internal memo sent shockwaves through the tech industry, revealing Meta’s most ambitious move yet: the creation of the Meta Superintelligence Labs—an all-out push to dominate the AI arms race by luring away some of the brightest minds from its fiercest rivals.

The memo reads less like a corporate plan and more like a declaration of war. Zuckerberg is not only going after the market—he’s going after the people who make the market move. The document names Alexandr Wang, the former Scale AI CEO known for his breakneck approach to deploying data labeling and training infrastructure for AI models, as the leader of the new Meta initiative.

Wang’s appointment is symbolic of the entire strategy: recruit the brains, secure the edge, and beat everyone else to the next level of artificial intelligence that promises superhuman performance. In other words, if you want to win the AI future, you hire the people building it.

Meta isn’t hiding its goals. The memo frames the move as part of a mission to develop “superintelligence”—the kind of advanced AI that doesn’t just answer questions or drive your car but potentially thinks better than any human being on Earth.

If that sounds like science fiction, Zuckerberg doesn’t seem to care. He’s all in.

The Billion-Dollar Talent War

Silicon Valley insiders have known for months that AI talent is the new oil. The most coveted engineers and researchers aren’t just well-paid—they’re practically treated like rock stars. Companies like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic have jealously guarded their top researchers, worried that even a single defection could mean falling behind in the race to develop ever more capable models.

According to the leaked memo, Meta isn’t offering generous salaries—it’s offering life-changing pay packages worth up to $100 million for the right hires.

That number, insiders say, isn’t just generous. It’s disruptive.

It immediately set the industry buzzing. Within hours of the leak, forums and backchannels lit up with the news. Tech workers marveled at the packages on offer, while company execs scrambled to reassure their top talent they wouldn’t be leaving for Meta anytime soon.

Even Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, reportedly called the scale of the offer “crazy,” signaling just how aggressive and destabilizing Meta’s move might be.

The Facebook Legacy Problem

Of course, Meta is no stranger to controversy or to big swings that don’t always pay off. Zuckerberg’s bet-the-company pivot to the metaverse is still viewed with skepticism in many corners of the industry. Billions have been spent on virtual reality hardware and immersive social worlds that—at least so far—haven’t delivered on their promise of being the “next internet.”

The company’s reputation took a hit, too. Users weren’t convinced. Investors got cold feet. Even Meta employees reportedly lost faith in the vision.

Which is why this latest AI push feels like a do-over—but with stakes that are even higher.

Meta needs a win. A real one. Not just in user engagement or ad impressions, but in proving it can be the leader of tomorrow’s technology, not yesterday’s.

That desperation—critics would say hunger—explains the recruitment strategy. Why wait to train your own researchers when you can just buy the competition’s best?

The Alexander Wang Factor

It’s hard to overstate how significant Alexandr Wang’s appointment is.

Scale AI wasn’t just another startup. It became an essential player in the rise of modern AI by helping companies build the massive, carefully labeled datasets necessary to train advanced models. Wang is known for his speed, focus, and ability to get results under pressure.

Bringing Wang to Meta signals Zuckerberg’s willingness to give his new Superintelligence Labs the kind of unrelenting, execution-focused leadership that Silicon Valley investors dream about—and employees sometimes fear.

Wang’s personal brand as a founder who moves fast, breaks things, and out-hustles everyone else is eerily similar to Zuckerberg’s early Facebook days.

Which might be exactly the point.

The Ethics Question

If Meta’s plan sounds unsettling to you, you’re not alone.

While the tech world buzzes over salaries and strategy, a growing chorus is asking harder questions:

What does it mean for one company to try to corner the world’s smartest AI talent?

Who gets to control the superintelligence these labs are trying to build?

Can any company, let alone one with Meta’s track record, be trusted with that kind of power?

Critics point out that superintelligence is not just a better chatbot. It could become the central nervous system of economies, militaries, and entire societies.

Meta’s past problems with user privacy, misinformation, and algorithmic manipulation don’t exactly inspire confidence.

Zuckerberg’s leaked memo didn’t mention ethics once. It talked about winning. About building. About recruiting.

Some say that tells you everything you need to know.

OpenAI, Google, Anthropic Respond

Meta’s rivals are not sitting still.

Sources say OpenAI and Google are already working to shore up their own teams, offering retention bonuses and promising their researchers greater autonomy and impact.

Anthropic, the company with the most outspoken safety-first stance in the AI world, is reportedly furious at losing talent to a company whose founder is often seen as the poster child for “move fast and break things.”

It’s a classic Silicon Valley drama: money, ego, and ideology. The people building the future of human knowledge are turning into pawns on a billion-dollar chessboard.

But for Zuckerberg, that’s the cost of doing business.

Superintelligence or Super-Risk?

What does Meta’s Superintelligence Labs want to build exactly?

Insiders suggest the goal is nothing short of artificial general intelligence (AGI)—a system that can learn anything, reason flexibly, and solve problems better than a human.

If that happens, the rewards are unimaginable. Whoever controls AGI could theoretically unlock new medicines, solve climate change, or automate entire industries.

But the risks are just as vast.

A superintelligent AI could make decisions humans can’t predict or control. Some experts warn it could become the ultimate weapon of economic and informational dominance, exacerbating global inequality and undermining human agency itself.

Meta’s strategy of “just hire everyone” doesn’t reassure people who worry about the careful, cautious approach AI demands.

A Leaked Memo That Changes the Game

Ultimately, the leaked memo is more than a list of names or a big number on a paycheck.

It’s a statement of intent.

Meta is tired of losing. Zuckerberg wants to own the next big thing in tech. And he’s willing to pay any price to make sure Meta doesn’t just survive the AI revolution—but leads it.

It’s bold. It’s risky. It’s controversial.

And it’s exactly the kind of move that will keep Zuckerberg in the headlines for months to come.

Because in Silicon Valley, nothing matters more than winning.

And Zuckerberg just told the world he’s playing to win.