Meta names ChatGPT co‑creator Shengjia Zhao as chief scientist of AI Superintelligence Lab

Just a month after poaching three OpenAI researchers, Meta is doubling down on its artificial intelligence ambitions with another heavyweight hire. On Friday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Shengjia Zhao, the co-creator of ChatGPT and one of the key minds behind GPT-4, is officially serving as the chief scientist of Meta’s newly formed Superintelligence Labs.

Zhao had already been quietly working behind the scenes. In a June memo, his name appeared among a wave of AI hires, but Zuckerberg made it clear this week that Zhao has been “our lead scientist from day one.” Now it’s official.

Meta Superintelligence Labs is Zuckerberg’s latest AI play, formed earlier this summer to build foundation models, develop open-source tools like Llama, and push forward new AI research. Zhao isn’t just another hire—he’s at the core of it.

“Shengjia has already pioneered several breakthroughs, including a new scaling paradigm and distinguished himself as a leader in the field,” Zuckerberg wrote in a social media post. “I’m looking forward to working closely with him to advance his scientific vision.”

Zhao’s resume is stacked. Before joining Meta, he helped build GPT-4 and other models at OpenAI, including GPT-4.1 and o3. He also led synthetic data efforts at the company, which became increasingly important as AI models grew larger and more data-hungry. His appointment puts him in close collaboration with both Zuckerberg and Alexandr Wang, the former Scale AI CEO who now serves as Meta’s chief AI officer.

Meta isn’t just collecting talent—it’s throwing billions at the problem. The company has already pumped $14 billion into Scale AI, and Zuckerberg recently said Meta will invest “hundreds of billions of dollars” in AI compute infrastructure over the coming years.

The pace of these moves suggests Meta is building something far bigger than another chatbot. With Zhao at the helm of Superintelligence Labs, the company seems intent on assembling a brain trust capable of pushing AI to new levels—whether through open-source models, proprietary breakthroughs, or both.

“The next few years are going to be very exciting!” Zuckerberg added. For now, all eyes are on what Meta—and Zhao—do next.

Below is the full message Zuckerberg shared on Threads.

“I’m excited to share that Shengjia Zhao will be the Chief Scientist of Meta Superintelligence Labs. In this role, Shengjia will set the research agenda and scientific direction for our new lab working directly with me and Alex.

Shengjia co-founded the new lab and has been our lead scientist from day one. Now that our recruiting is going well and our team is coming together, we have decided to formalize his leadership role.

Shengjia has already pioneered several breakthroughs including a new scaling paradigm and distinguished himself as a leader in the field. I’m looking forward to working closely with him to advance his scientific vision.

Together we are building an elite, talent-dense team that has the resources and long-term focus to push the frontiers of superintelligence research. The next few years are going to be very exciting!”