Meta taps former Google DeepMind director to lead its AI research lab

Meta has chosen Robert Fergus to pb its Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab, according to Bloomberg.

Fergus had been moving astatine Google DeepMind arsenic a probe manager for astir 5 years, per his LinkedIn. Prior to Google, helium worked arsenic a researcher idiosyncratic astatine Meta.

Meta’s FAIR, which has been astir since 2013, has faced challenges successful caller years, according to a study from Fortune. FAIR led probe connected the company’s aboriginal AI models, including Llama 1 and Llama 2. However, researchers person reportedly departed the portion en masse for different startups, companies, and adjacent Meta’s newer GenAI group, which led the improvement of Llama 4.

Meta’s erstwhile VP of AI Research, Joelle Pineau, announced successful April she’d beryllium leaving the institution for a caller opportunity.