Meta's 'Highest-Paid' Employee Is Reportedly Unhappy With Zuckerberg

 Meta Platforms Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:FB) AI whizz Alexandr Wang is reportedly feeling ‘suffocated’ under the micromanagement of CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

What Happened: Wang, the brains behind Scale AI, became part of Meta earlier this year when the social media giant acquired a 49% stake in his startup for over $14 billion.

Wang has allegedly communicated to his colleagues that Zuckerberg’s stringent control over the AI project is impeding its advancement, reports The Financial Times.

This news surfaces amidst a period of internal discord at Meta, characterized by layoffs, high-level departures, and hasty AI deployments. The company’s much-anticipated AI model, Llama 4, failed to live up to the hype, fueling further dissatisfaction.

Despite these hurdles, Zuckerberg remains committed to AI investment, with Wang at the helm of the enigmatic TBD Lab, tasked with creating a novel flagship AI model, codenamed “Avocado”.

However, there has been some skepticism within Meta regarding Wang’s capability to oversee large research teams, considering his expertise lies in AI data services rather than pioneering AI models.

Also Read: Harvard Expert Says Zuckerberg Is Derailing Facebook: ‘I Think The Wealth Went To His Head’

The pressure is also mounting on former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, who was recruited to incorporate AI models into Meta’s offerings. The urgency to deliver has led to premature product launches.

Amid these leadership challenges, several high-ranking executives have exited Meta, and the company has dismissed 600 employees from its AI divisions. Meta’s AI capital expenditures are projected to hit a minimum of $70 billion this year.

Meta has contested certain elements of the report, asserting that public leaderboards can be misleading and that recent policy issues were based on examples that were “erroneous and inconsistent” with its guidelines.

Why It Matters: The reported dissatisfaction of Wang, a key player in Meta’s AI initiative, could potentially impact the company’s ambitious AI projects. The internal strife and high-level departures may further destabilize the company’s AI efforts.

Additionally, the criticisms of rushed product releases and the failure of the Llama 4 model underscore the challenges Meta faces in its pursuit of AI dominance.

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