Meta hires top OpenAI researcher for its AI reasoning team

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Meta has hired Trapit Bansal, a top researcher from OpenAI, to help build advanced AI reasoning models for its new AI superintelligence team. 

Bansal has worked at OpenAI since 2022, where he was crucial in developing reinforcement learning methods alongside OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. 

He also played a key role in OpenAI’s first AI reasoning model, called o1. His move to Meta was confirmed by OpenAI, and his LinkedIn shows he left in June. Bansal’s expertise could give Meta’s AI team a big boost. 

Meta’s AI superintelligence lab is trying to catch up with rivals like OpenAI and Google, who already have powerful AI reasoning models, such as OpenAI’s o3 and DeepSeek’s R1. 

Currently, Meta doesn’t offer a public AI reasoning model. By hiring people like Bansal, Meta hopes to develop advanced AI that can think through problems more effectively, which is critical for building smarter AI products.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been aggressively hiring top AI researchers, reportedly offering huge pay packages up to $100 million. (Via: Tech Crunch)

Along with Bansal, three other ex-OpenAI researchers, Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai, recently joined Meta. 

They’re now working with other AI experts like former Google DeepMind researcher Jack Rae and Johan Schalkwyk, a former machine learning leader at startup Sesame.

Zuckerberg also tried to buy AI startups like Sutskever’s Safe Superintelligence and Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Labs, but didn’t close those deals. 

Meanwhile, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman said Meta is trying to lure his best people but claimed the top talent hasn’t left.

AI reasoning is important because it helps AI systems work through problems before giving answers, making them smarter and more reliable. 

Meta’s goal is to use these advanced AI models to power many of its future products, including business AI agents led by former Salesforce AI head Clara Shih.

But the competition is fierce: OpenAI plans to release a new open AI reasoning model soon, which could make it even harder for Meta to stand out.

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