Mark Zuckerberg, when CEO of Meta, made significant investments in the field of artificial intelligence, however, with the recent layoffs and exodus of researchers, the internet giant is now lagging behind its rivals.
Meta is attempting to establish itself among industry leaders such as OpenAI as AI continues to advance. The company has lost at least a third of its researchers with published AI work due to fatigue or lack of faith in Meta over the past year.
In 2013, Zuckerberg recruited AI “godfather” Yann LeCun to oversee Meta’s efforts to advance in AI, but the White House did not invite the company to its summit of “companies at the forefront of AI innovation.”
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The company is currently working to correct past errors that shifted its focus away from generative AI, despite employees imploring the company to move in a new direction.
According to sources, under LeCun it was difficult for AI researchers to push for large language models that made programs like ChatGPT possible. Nonetheless, in a June town hall meeting with employees, Zuckerberg lauded the company’s AI advancements.
He said –
“In the last year, we’ve seen some really incredible breakthroughs—qualitative breakthroughs—on generative AI.”
Meta has also lost a significant number of researchers over the past year, many of whom reported feeling worn out or uncertain about the company’s AI future. As a result of the November release of ChatGPT by OpenAI, which effectively accelerated the competition to innovate in AI, even more employees left the company.
Within a year of its launch, another AI competitor, image generator Midjourney, garnered notoriety due to viral fake images of Pope Francis and Donald Trump. Only 26% of Meta employees who responded to an internal survey conducted between April 26 and May 10 expressed confidence in their company’s leadership.
In his February earnings report, Zuckerberg called 2023 the “year of efficiency.” In November, Meta laid off over 11,000 employees and proceeded to shut down projects throughout the following months.