Head of AI research at Meta announces departure, Bloomberg says

Joelle Pineau, the vice president leading Meta Platforms (META)’ artificial intelligence research group, known as FAIR, announced her departure internally on Tuesday, Kurt Wagner of Bloomberg reports, citing a copy of her post. Pineau has been at Meta for eight years, has led the FAIR team since early 2023 and reports to Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, Bloomberg points out. “Today, as the world undergoes significant change, as the race for AI accelerates, and as Meta prepares for its next chapter, it is time to create space for others to pursue the work,” Pineau wrote to colleagues. The departure “risks complicating Meta’s effort to compete with rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI on AI products and talent,” Bloomberg adds. Meta doesn’t yet have a replacement for Pineau, but is conducting a search for her successor, a spokesperson told Bloomberg.