Meta scored a big win in the AI talent wars by hiring Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab. The Australian AI expert, who helped build PyTorch at Meta from 2012 to 2023 and worked on GPT-4 at OpenAI, left the startup he co-founded with ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati earlier this year. Thinking Machines Lab, valued at $12 billion after a $2 billion funding round, confirmed his exit for “personal reasons.” This comes after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to buy the startup in August and offered Tulloch a package worth up to $1.5 billion over six years, which he initially turned down. Now, he’s back at Meta to help ramp up their AI efforts.
A Key Player in AI’s Big Leagues
Tulloch’s skills in machine learning and scaling AI systems make him a hot pick – he’s credited with key work on Meta’s infrastructure and OpenAI’s reasoning models. At Thinking Machines Lab, he aimed for collaborative human-AI tech, but Meta’s deep pockets and resources won out. This hire is part of Zuckerberg’s push to catch up in advanced AI, offering massive bonuses to snag talent from rivals like OpenAI. It’s a blow to the startup but boosts Meta’s game against leaders in the field.
Who’s Impacted and When?
The move happened right away, affecting Meta’s global AI teams and Thinking Machines Lab’s small crew. Tulloch starts at Meta immediately, likely focusing on research or infrastructure. No public word on his exact role yet.
Heating Up the AI Talent Hunt
This snag highlights how fierce the fight for top AI brains is, with Meta flipping the script on startups. It could speed up Meta’s projects like Llama models, showing money talks in tech – one hire at a time.
