Meta’s ambitious push to build “superintelligence” is already showing signs of strain. Just five months after joining with a seven-figure salary, leading AI researcher Rishabh Agarwal has announced his departure from the company’s newly formed Superintelligence Lab — a division Mark Zuckerberg has called central to Meta’s future.
Agarwal, an alumnus of IIT Bombay and Mila–Quebec AI Institute, shared his decision in a post on X, writing:
“It was a tough decision not to continue with the new Superintelligence TBD lab, especially given the talent and compute density. But after 7.5 years across Google Brain, DeepMind, and Meta, I felt the pull to take on a different kind of risk.”
His exit is a blow to Meta. Agarwal is widely regarded for his reinforcement learning research at Google Brain and his work on large language models at DeepMind. Meta’s ability to lure him earlier this year was seen as proof that Zuckerberg’s promise of multi-billion-dollar investments and “unparalleled compute” could attract top AI talent away from OpenAI, Google, and xAI.
However, Agarwal is not leaving alone. At least three researchers have departed the Superintelligence Lab in recent weeks, according to Wired. Two of them, Avi Verma and Ethan Knight, have already returned to OpenAI — highlighting how fiercely contested elite AI talent has become.
Meta launched its superintelligence initiative just two months ago, recruiting Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang to help lead the effort and offering multi-million-dollar compensation packages in an aggressive hiring spree. Yet the early turnover suggests that pay and compute power alone may not be enough to retain researchers seeking greater scientific freedom, cultural alignment, or more independent pursuits.
Agarwal’s next move remains undisclosed. Whether he joins a rival, launches a startup, or reenters academia, his exit underscores the volatility of today’s AI talent wars — and the challenge even tech giants face in holding on to the people they need most.
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