Meta Appoints Ex-OpenAI Researcher Shengjia Zhao as Chief Scientist of Superintelligence Unit

Meta Platforms has named Shengjia Zhao, a former OpenAI researcher and key contributor to ChatGPT, as the Chief Scientist of its newly formed Superintelligence Labs, marking a significant development in its push toward advanced AI capabilities.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement on Threads, confirming Zhao’s leadership role in Meta’s ambitious initiative to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI). Zhao, who joined Meta in June, has been at the helm of Superintelligence Labs since its inception, overseeing foundational research projects.

Zhao’s past credentials include significant contributions to OpenAI’s flagship AI models such as GPT-4 and the ChatGPT platform. He also played a key role in the development of OpenAI’s “o1” model, which introduced chain-of-thought reasoning — a breakthrough that influenced the broader AI research community.

At Meta, Zhao will report directly to Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of Scale AI, who was brought on earlier this year to oversee Meta’s entire AI strategy. The appointment places Zhao above AI veteran Yann LeCun, who now reports to Wang under a reorganized structure that consolidates Meta’s AI divisions.

The creation of Superintelligence Labs, announced in June, reflects Meta’s intensified focus on achieving AGI. The lab consolidates Meta’s AI talent pool and research efforts, aiming to build models that match or exceed human cognitive capabilities. It will also extend the development of Meta’s LLaMA (Large Language Model Meta AI) series, which has been released as open-source software.

Zuckerberg has publicly declared his commitment to an open-source approach in AI development, a stance that has differentiated Meta from rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic. However, this strategy has faced scrutiny over potential misuse of powerful AI tools.

Zhao’s appointment is part of a broader talent acquisition drive, which has seen Meta hire several high-profile AI researchers from competing firms, including OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic. His leadership is expected to shape the direction of Meta’s AGI ambitions and reinforce the company’s standing in the global AI race.

With Zhao at the helm, Meta hopes to accelerate breakthroughs in superintelligence while positioning itself as a leader in the next wave of AI evolution.