Another top researcher from OpenAI is being poached by tech giant Meta (META), according to WIRED. Jason Wei, who worked on OpenAI’s o1 model and other deep research projects, is now heading to Meta’s new superintelligence lab. Wei had joined OpenAI in 2023 after working at Google (GOOGL), where he focused on a method called “chain-of-thought” reasoning that teaches AI to break down complex tasks step by step. At OpenAI, he became a strong supporter of reinforcement learning, which is a technique that trains AI models using rewards and penalties.
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Interestingly, Wei won’t be making the move alone. Indeed, another OpenAI researcher, Hyung Won Chung, is also joining Meta. Chung worked on many of the same projects as Wei, such as OpenAI’s o1 model and deep research, and previously worked at Google. Sources cited by WIRED say that the two have a close working relationship, and their internal Slack profiles at OpenAI have already been deactivated.
It is worth noting that Meta has a history of hiring groups of researchers who already work well together. In fact, it previously brought over a team of three from OpenAI’s Switzerland office. Meta’s hiring spree also shows no signs of slowing down. Reports say that the company is offering as much as $300 million over four years in order to attract top AI talent. In response, OpenAI has been fighting back by poaching engineers from Tesla (TSLA), xAI, and Meta.
Is Meta a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on META stock based on 41 Buys, four Holds, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average META price target of $735.45 per share implies 4.6% upside potential.
