Meta Names OpenAI’s Shengjia Zhao as Chief Scientist of AI Superintelligence Lab

Meta has appointed Shengjia Zhao, a leading figure behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT, as the chief scientist of its newly formed Meta Superintelligence Labs. The announcement was made by CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, confirming Zhao’s pivotal role in the company’s expanding push into artificial intelligence.

Zhao, known for his contributions to the development of GPT-4, mini models, and OpenAI’s synthetic data efforts, had been listed among new hires in Meta’s June internal memo. However, Zuckerberg revealed that Zhao has been involved with the lab since its inception, co-founding the unit and serving as its lead scientist from the beginning.

The appointment places Zhao in direct collaboration with Zuckerberg and Alexandr Wang, former CEO of Scale AI and currently Meta’s chief AI officer. The trio now forms the core leadership of Meta’s most ambitious AI initiative to date.

“Shengjia has already pioneered several breakthroughs including a new scaling paradigm and distinguished himself as a leader in the field,” Zuckerberg said in a post shared Friday. “I’m looking forward to working closely with him to advance his scientific vision.”

Meta Superintelligence Labs is part of a broader strategy launched by the company in June, aimed at consolidating its AI research and development under one powerful banner. The lab will focus on foundation models such as the open-source Llama family and other long-term projects within Meta’s Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) division.

The announcement follows a series of high-profile moves by Meta in recent months, including a $14 billion investment in Scale AI. Zuckerberg has stated that Meta will spend “hundreds of billions of dollars” on AI infrastructure in the years ahead, signaling an era of deep commitment to computational research and model development.

Zhao’s transition from OpenAI to Meta is already being viewed as a strategic win for the social media giant. His leadership is expected to strengthen Meta’s position in the highly competitive AI space, especially as tech rivals race to secure top-tier talent and dominate the next wave of AI innovation.

With Zhao at the helm of scientific direction and Wang overseeing operations, Meta is positioning itself to shape the future of superintelligent systems. As the company continues to build one of the world’s most resource-intensive AI labs, it sets the stage for what Zuckerberg described as “a very exciting few years ahead.”