Meta Platforms has successfully recruited Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Mira Murati’s Thinking Labs, in the latest high-profile hiring as the social media giant intensifies its artificial intelligence talent acquisition drive. The Australian AI research specialist’s move to Meta Platforms represents another significant personnel shift in the competitive AI landscape, coming just days after Thinking Labs launched its first product, Tinker.
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Meta’s Strategic AI Talent Acquisition
According to reports from The Wall Street Journal, Tulloch confirmed his departure in a letter to Thinking Labs employees on October 10. The researcher brings substantial experience to Meta, having previously spent 11 years with the company before his 2023 departure to join OpenAI. His return to Meta underscores the company’s aggressive strategy to recruit top AI talent amid what industry experts note is an increasingly competitive market for artificial intelligence specialists.
Tulloch becomes the latest in a series of major hires by Meta this year as the company works to close the gap with other Silicon Valley players in the AI sector. The recruitment drive has seen Meta successfully poach senior figures from multiple leading AI organizations, including OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Apple, and Anthropic.
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Thinking Labs Context and Recent Developments
Tulloch’s departure comes at a pivotal moment for Thinking Labs, which just last week launched its much-anticipated first product, Tinker. Described as “a flexible API for fine-tuning language models,” the product launch represents a significant milestone for the startup founded by Mira Murati, who previously served as CTO at OpenAI. According to recent analysis, Murati oversaw major developments at OpenAI including ChatGPT and briefly served as interim CEO during Sam Altman’s temporary removal in November 2023.
Thinking Labs has demonstrated remarkable growth potential, attracting $2 billion in investment during a July funding round led by A16z (Andreessen Horowitz). This investment valued the company at $12 billion before it had even brought a product to market. Other notable investors included chip manufacturers Nvidia and AMD, alongside Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, and Jane Street.
Meta’s Broader AI Reorganization
Meta’s recruitment of Tulloch aligns with the company’s broader reorganization of its AI efforts under the Superintelligence Labs division. The social media giant has been particularly active in the AI space throughout 2025, with additional coverage highlighting the company’s strategic moves including acquiring a controlling stake in data-labeling firm ScaleAI in June. This acquisition saw ScaleAI founder Alexandr Wang appointed to lead the division, further strengthening Meta’s AI leadership team.
The talent acquisition strategy has included direct approaches to numerous Thinking Labs team members, with reports indicating that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had personally approached Mira Murati herself. This aggressive recruitment approach reflects the intense competition for AI expertise across the technology sector.
Industry Impact and Future Implications
Tulloch’s return to Meta represents a significant development in the ongoing AI talent wars, particularly given previous reports that he had turned down a Meta offer valued by some analysts at approximately $1.5 billion. The recruitment underscores several key industry trends:
- Intensified competition for established AI researchers and engineers
- Strategic repositioning of major tech companies in the AI landscape
- Increased valuation of AI startups and their technical leadership
- Accelerated product development timelines across the AI sector
The movement of high-profile AI researchers between major companies and startups continues to reshape the competitive dynamics of the artificial intelligence industry. As related analysis indicates, this trend shows no signs of slowing as companies increasingly recognize AI capability as a critical competitive advantage.
Meta’s successful recruitment of Tulloch from Thinking Labs represents another strategic victory in the company’s determined effort to strengthen its AI research and development capabilities. The move further solidifies Meta’s position in the increasingly competitive artificial intelligence landscape while demonstrating the ongoing fluidity of talent movement between established tech giants and promising AI startups.
