Key contributor to OpenAI’s o1 model joins Zuckerberg’s elite AI research unit amid high-stakes talent race
Meta (META) has recruited Trapit Bansal, a highly influential researcher from OpenAI, to join its recently formed AI superintelligence team, according to a source familiar with the matter. The move signals Meta’s deepening push into advanced AI development as it competes aggressively for top talent in the field.
Bansal, who left OpenAI in June, played a pivotal role in shaping the company’s early work on reinforcement learning and AI reasoning. He is credited as a foundational contributor to OpenAI’s first reasoning model, known as o1, and worked closely with OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever.
His arrival is expected to significantly strengthen Meta’s AI superintelligence lab, which already includes high-profile figures such as former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, ex-GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and Safe Superintelligence co-founder Daniel Gross. While Meta has yet to release its own AI reasoning model under its open-source Llama family, Bansal’s expertise could help fill that gap.
This latest hire reflects CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s aggressive expansion of Meta’s AI capabilities. In recent months, the company has reportedly been offering compensation packages as high as $100 million to attract top-tier AI researchers. Though the terms of Bansal’s deal were not disclosed, the hire underscores Meta’s commitment to staying competitive in the escalating AI talent war.
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed Bansal’s departure, while a Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the move.
As Meta ramps up efforts to build safe and powerful AI systems, Bansal’s addition positions the company to make significant strides in reasoning-based AI, a critical area for achieving superintelligent performance.
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