Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has shifted his focus to enhancing the company's AI capabilities by recruiting Daniel Gross, the CEO of Safe Superintelligence, following an unsuccessful acquisition attempt.

This recruitment is part of a broader strategy that includes a significant $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, reflecting Meta's commitment to advancing its artificial intelligence initiatives.

Gross brings a wealth of experience to Meta, having previously founded the search engine Cue, which was acquired by Apple, and contributing to the development of Apple's machine learning and Siri.

Alongside Gross, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman will also join Meta, where they will work under Alexandr Wang, the founder of Scale AI, further strengthening Meta's AI team.

Zuckerberg's aggressive hiring strategy underscores the fierce competition among tech giants like Meta, Google, and OpenAI to secure top AI talent and push towards artificial general intelligence (AGI).

In a bid to attract talent from OpenAI, Meta has reportedly offered substantial signing bonuses, reaching up to $100 million, although no top employees have accepted these offers yet.

The tech industry is currently witnessing a series of strategic maneuvers, including OpenAI's recent $6.5 billion acquisition of Jony Ive's startup, highlighting the ongoing race for innovation.

Prior to recruiting Gross, Meta attempted to acquire Safe Superintelligence, valued at $32 billion, but the company's founder, Ilya Sutskever, declined both the takeover offer and an invitation to join Meta.

The valuation of Safe Superintelligence at $32 billion during a recent funding round illustrates its significant market position and the high stakes involved in AI advancements.

The future of NFDG, the venture capital firm co-founded by Gross and Friedman, remains uncertain in light of their new roles at Meta, despite its previous investments in notable companies like Coinbase and Figma.

Friedman's background includes co-founding multiple startups and serving as GitHub's CEO after its acquisition by Microsoft, adding further expertise to Meta's AI initiatives.