Elon Musk’s xAI Swings Big in AI Talent War, Luring 14 Meta Engineers Since January

Elon Musk’s xAI has lured at least 14 AI researchers and engineers from Meta since January, according to a Business Insider analysis of LinkedIn profiles. The move underscores the intense competition among tech giants to secure top AI talent as the race to build advanced artificial intelligence accelerates. Among those who made the jump are Xinlei Chen, a former research scientist at Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team, who joined xAI in June. Chen specializes in multimodal AI, including image and video processing—areas central to Meta’s new superintelligence initiatives. Similarly, Ching-Yao Chuang, another former FAIR researcher, transitioned to xAI in May. Alan Rice, a former data center manager at Meta, left in April and is now based in Memphis, Tennessee—the location of xAI’s largest supercomputer hub. Sheng Sen, an AI research scientist who played a key role in scaling Meta’s Llama models, also joined xAI in April. Elon Musk highlighted the trend in a recent X post, noting that xAI is attracting talent without offering unsustainable compensation packages. He emphasized the company’s growth potential and merit-based pay structure, stating that employees who deliver exceptional results can see significant pay increases. Meta has responded aggressively to the talent drain, hiring high-profile figures like Shengjia Zhao, co-creator of ChatGPT, as chief scientist for its new Superintelligence Labs. The company has also brought on three researchers who helped launch OpenAI’s Zurich office, part of a broader effort led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg to recruit top AI minds through multimillion-dollar offers. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei criticized this approach during a recent episode of the “Big Technology Podcast,” arguing that Meta’s strategy risks undermining team cohesion and mission alignment. He said Anthropic employees have received and declined lucrative offers, choosing to uphold their company’s values over inflated individual pay. The AI talent war extends beyond Meta and xAI. Microsoft has reportedly recruited over two dozen Google employees in recent months, according to The Wall Street Journal. xAI has also drawn talent from Musk’s other ventures. Internal data shows the company employs around 40 former Tesla employees and several ex-SpaceX staff. This includes Daniel Rowland, a hardware engineer who worked on Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer since 2018 and now leads xAI’s Colossus data center project. With approximately 1,200 employees, xAI continues to expand rapidly, including hiring AI tutors to train its chatbot. The company remains focused on building a scalable infrastructure and advancing its vision for artificial general intelligence.