Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Eyes Acquisition of AI Startup Founded by Former OpenAI Employee

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is exploring acquisitions of several AI startups to bolster the company’s AI initiatives. Preliminary discussions have reportedly occurred regarding purchases of Perplexity, Safe Superintelligence (SSI), and Thinking Machines Lab, founded by ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. However, these discussions did not progress due to disagreements on valuation and strategic fit. Meanwhile, Murati’s startup has secured $2 billion at a valuation of $10 billion. Additionally, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mentioned that Meta has aggressively attempted to recruit OpenAI employees, viewing the company as its main competitor. In a strategic move, Meta has also hired Alexandr Wang, former CEO of ScaleAI, to lead a new AI team, alongside Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman co-managing the Meta AI assistant project. Wang is actively engaging with Meta’s leadership and is set to recruit talent, with an official announcement expected soon.

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