Meta is undergoing its largest internal change of its AI teams to date – the company has disbanded the entire AGI Foundations division and reorganized its operations into four new departments under the leadership of Alexander Wang. At the same time, a hiring freeze has been implemented following a summer marked by massive talent poaching from other companies.
In an internal memo to employees, Wang announced the formation of new teams for research, training, products, and infrastructure, with most department heads reporting directly to him. Additionally, Meta introduced a hiring freeze in the AI department last week, with any exceptions now requiring Wang’s personal approval.
Members of the former AGI Foundations group have been redistributed across various departments, while a new “TBD Lab” has been created to research so-called omni models and advanced AI technologies. Wang also revealed that Chief Scientist Yann LeCun will now report directly to him, describing the FAIR team as the “innovation engine for MSL” within the new structure.
With this move, Meta concludes an intense period of hiring and shifts its focus toward stabilizing and building the new internal organization. The new team aims to move quickly, but it remains to be seen how these changes will impact the broader AI departments, particularly the FAIR team, which already feels somewhat lost amid the transformation.
In Brief: Tech World Highlights
- FieldAI, based in California, raised $405 million to develop foundational embodied AI models that enable humanoids and autonomous vehicles to operate in unknown environments.
- The U.S. Navy encountered a setback in its autonomous surface vessel swarm program, according to Reuters, after two test incidents off the California coast, leaving one drone ship disabled.
- Figure AI released a video of its humanoid Figure 02 navigating obstacles using a new movement system called the Helix walking controller.
- Foxconn reportedly plans to unveil a humanoid with an “LLM-driven brain” this year, to be deployed in a new Houston factory producing NVIDIA GB300 servers.
- South Korean WIRobotics launched ALLEX, a humanoid with highly dexterous hands with 15 degrees of freedom (DOF), capable of precise tasks as well as lifting loads over 30 kg.
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