Insiders revealed that star AI researcher Andrew Tulloch is set to leave Meta. Last year, Meta offered him a compensation package worth over $1 billion to recruit him.
Tulloch's joining was seen as a major victory for Meta and marked the end of a frenzied talent war last summer. At that time, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent heavily to attract researchers, aiming to catch up in the AI race. Tulloch worked at Meta for 11 years before leaving in 2023 to join OpenAI, and later co-founded Thinking Machines Lab.
Tulloch announced his departure to colleagues on Wednesday without revealing his next move or responding to requests for comment. Meta also declined to comment on his departure.
AI Talent Exodus Intensifies, with All Three Co-Founders Having Left
His departure has intensified a series of high-profile exoduses of AI researchers. Last month, Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean and three other senior researchers left to start an AI startup; on Tuesday, a researcher from Anthropic resigned due to concerns about the company and its competitors racing to develop a technology that might ultimately become uncontrollable.
Tulloch is the third co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab to announce his departure recently. Previously, Barrett Zoph and Luke Metz had left OpenAI last month; Zoph joined Google, while Metz joined Meta.
According to a previous report by The Wall Street Journal, Meta once offered Tulloch a compensation package that could be worth up to $1.5 billion, including the highest bonus and excellent stock performance, but he refused it at the time; a few months later, he eventually joined Meta with undisclosed compensation.
Just a day before Tulloch announced his departure, Meta had just launched a new AI agent, which can send emails, shop on websites, and complete other tasks after being authorized. In recent months, Meta has been striving to re-enter the AI race, having released competitive models and a low-cost programming AI agent.
