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Meta’s latest hire, former OpenAI researcher Trapit Bansal, marks another major milestone in its quest to dominate frontier AI research.
Bansal, who recently departed OpenAI after contributing to its O1 reasoning model and reinforcement learning projects, has now joined Meta’s AI reasoning team under the company’s new superintelligence unit. His arrival adds weight to a growing cohort of top-tier AI talent that Meta has successfully attracted from competitors like Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Scale AI.
The hiring spree is more than symbolic. It reveals Meta’s intensifying push to reclaim ground in a race where OpenAI and Google have seized the lead. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta has even offered signing bonuses reaching $100 million to attract key personnel.
While Altman insists none of OpenAI’s best people have taken the bait, Meta’s expanding team tells a different story, with recent recruits including Jack Rae from DeepMind, Johan Schalkwyk from Sesame, and three other OpenAI alumni.
Sources indicate that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now personally involved in building what he envisions as a new wave of AI agents capable of superintelligence. Reports suggest he has been meeting researchers at his homes and restructuring the Menlo Park headquarters to give the new AI unit proximity to his own office. This hands-on approach reflects his frustration with Meta’s past AI shortcomings and a growing urgency to outpace rivals.
Meta’s recent $14.3 billion deal for a 49 percent stake in Scale AI further underscores that urgency. As part of the transaction, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang will join Meta alongside several of his team members. Wang’s addition gives Meta a seasoned operator with deep roots in machine learning infrastructure and the enterprise data pipelines crucial for training powerful models.
The focus of Meta’s talent push is not just raw scale, but reasoning. AI reasoning models, like the one Bansal helped build at OpenAI, represent the next leap in sophistication for generative systems. These models take more time and computation to deliver outputs, but they perform significantly better on tasks requiring logical deduction and complex problem-solving.
This area is fast becoming a central battleground. OpenAI, Google, and Chinese rival DeepSeek are already deploying high-performing reasoning agents, raising pressure on Meta to catch up. Meta sees these capabilities as foundational to its long-term vision: AI agents that can handle business operations, customer service, and internal workflows autonomously.
Despite the growing roster of experts and deep capital investments, Meta’s efforts have yet to prove they can translate elite hiring into market-leading innovation. Altman, never one to shy from confrontation, questioned Meta’s capacity to innovate effectively, suggesting the company has struggled to produce breakthroughs that rival OpenAI’s.
Still, Meta’s recent moves hint at a long game. With billions in funding, aggressive talent acquisition, and Zuckerberg’s personal involvement, the company is positioning itself not just as a follower but a potential frontrunner in the superintelligence race. The only question now is whether all that firepower will be enough to deliver results that match the ambition.
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