Meta’s push for AI dominance hit a wall after Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab, turned down a $1.5 billion offer to join Mark Zuckerberg’s “superintelligence” lab — according to The Wall Street Journal.

The lab, which Tulloch co-founded with former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, reportedly caught Meta’s eye earlier this year. But the team isn’t selling — or switching sides.
The Offer: Up to $1.5 Billion Over 6 Years

According to sources cited by WSJ, Zuckerberg made a direct offer to Tulloch worth around $1 billion in total compensation, with bonuses and stock appreciation bringing it up to $1.5 billion over six years.

Tulloch said no.
So did the rest of the team.
🧠 Meta’s AI Hiring Frenzy

After failing to acquire Thinking Machines Lab, Meta started trying to poach talent individually. Reports say the company reached out to about 12 researchers from the lab.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone denied interest in acquiring the startup and called WSJ’s report “inaccurate and ridiculous,” while noting that any large compensation offer would depend on Meta’s stock performance.

But Zuckerberg has reportedly been hands-on in the recruitment effort since April 2025, frustrated by the “slow progress” of Meta’s internal AI development.
Who Meta Did Hire

Despite the rejections, Meta has lured top AI minds from:

Apple: Jomin Pan, former head of Apple’s AI division, joined Meta in July with a package reportedly worth tens of millions per year.

OpenAI: Researcher Alexander Kolesnikov is now at Meta.

Anthropic: AI specialist Anton Bakhtin also jumped ship.

In total, 16 AI researchers have joined Meta recently, according to Bloomberg, WSJ, and TechCrunch.
️ Building Meta’s Superintelligence Lab

Meta’s ambitious lab is now led by:

Alexandr Wang, founder of Scale AI

Nat Friedman, ex-CEO of GitHub, who is leading product development

With talent like this, Meta is still very much in the race for AGI — even if some of the biggest fish just won’t bite.

Would you say no to $1.5 billion? Let’s be honest.