Who Is Shengjia Zhao? Zuckerberg’s Billion-Dollar AI Gamble Starts With This One Man

In July 2025, Meta Platforms made a bold move by hiring Shengjia Zhao, one of the key minds behind ChatGPT and GPT‑4, as the Chief Scientist of its newly launched Superintelligence Labs. This marks a major step in Meta’s race toward artificial general intelligence (AGI), putting it in direct competition with OpenAI and Google DeepMind.

Who Is Shengjia Zhao?

Zhao did a bachelor’s degree at Tsinghua University and a PhD in computer science at Stanford University.

Shengjia Zhao is a renowned AI researcher best known for his work at OpenAI, where he co-authored the research paper behind ChatGPT. He also contributed significantly to the development of GPT‑4, compact models like GPT-4.1 and o3, and OpenAI’s o1 reasoning model, which sparked the “chain-of-thought” revolution in AI.

One of his most important ideas was a “new scaling method”, used in OpenAI’s o1 model—a system designed to solve complex problems using reasoning, much like a human brain.

What Is Meta Superintelligence Labs?

Launched in June 2025, Meta’s Superintelligence Labs is a new research division dedicated to creating superintelligent AI systems. Unlike Meta’s existing FAIR unit, this lab is entirely focused on Artificial General Intelligence AGI—scaling up models, building novel architectures, and pushing the frontier of AI research.

Meta has invested billions of dollars into this initiative, including infrastructure, AI talent acquisition, and open-source research.

Zhao’s New Chapter at Meta

In mid-2024, Meta took a big leap by launching its Superintelligence Labs, a new unit focused on building advanced AI systems. Right from the start, they brought in Shengjia Zhao as the Chief Scientist. He will now work with Mark Zuckerberg and Alexandr Wang, Meta’s Chief AI Officer. Interestingly, Zuckerberg didn’t just welcome him—he referred to Zhao as a “co-founder” of the lab, showing how central he is to this mission.

Zhao’s main job is to guide the lab’s research, help improve Meta’s Llama AI models, and lead the push toward developing smarter, more human-like AI tools.

Why This Matters

Zhao brings credibility and clarity: With a track record of actual breakthroughs, his presence makes Meta’s AGI mission more credible.

Meta is back in the AGI race: After mixed results with LLaMA 4, Meta is repositioning itself as a serious player.

Talent wars are heating up: By pulling top talent from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, Meta is signaling its aggressive intent.

Final Thoughts

With Zhao leading the charge, Meta is not just building another AI lab—it’s crafting a bold new future. His deep research background, combined with Meta’s scale and vision, could unlock the next era of intelligent systems. Whether you’re a developer, entrepreneur, or just an AI enthusiast, this is one story you’ll want to keep an eye on.

Read More: iq.wiki, Mint, TOI, CNBC

0

Windsurf Deal Slips From OpenAI’s Grasp, Google Wins in the AI Talent War!

In a surprise twist, OpenAI’s $3B deal to acquire AI coding startup Windsurf has collapsed — and Google swooped in smartly. Instead of buying the company, Google acqui-hired key Windsurf talent, including CEO Varun Mohan, for $2.4B. They also secured a non-exclusive license to Windsurf’s tech. The rest of Windsurf stays independent under a new interim CEO. This clever move gives Google DeepMind top AI coding brains without full acquisition hassles. Meanwhile, OpenAI is left empty-handed. The race for elite AI talent is heating up, and Google just played a masterstroke.

Credit: CNBC

0

How I Built a $1.4B Software Giant Called Amplitude

Have you ever thought that a failed startup could be the stepping stone to building a billion-dollar business? Such is the story of Spencer Skates, who built a $1.4 billion product analytics company called Amplitude — and that too after his first company failed.

His journey is not just the story of an AI product or a tech startup , but a roadmap that every aspiring founder can learn from.

The Startup Failed… And That’s Where the Billion Dollar Idea Came From!

Spencer had previously built a voice-to-text startup called Sonalight, which failed. But during this time he noticed that he was not able to understand his users properly. And this is where he got the idea of ​​Amplitude , an analytics tool that tells how the user is using your product and where there is a disconnect.

Listen to the Customer First

Spencer says, “Founders are often busy with the product, but forget the real thing, which is listening to the customers.”
Early feedback gave him the right direction. His mantra was:

“First ask what the user wants, then make the product — not the other way around.”

Charge Users from The First Day

Spencer quickly realized the importance of charging for his product from the beginning. “The first paying customer is the biggest validation ,” he said. Many founders are afraid of pricing, but early monetization played a big role in Amplitude’s success.

How to Get Ahead of Your Competitors?

The product analytics market was already crowded — big names like Mixpanel, Google Analytics were already there. But Amplitude focused on deeper user insights and product-led growth. The result? Slowly, they created their own identity.

Preserving Culture While Scaling Is the Biggest Challenge

As a company expands, one of the hardest challenges is keeping its internal culture intact. Spencer explained how he created leadership processes so that whether the team is small or large – both value and execution remain consistent. Moving out of the startup matrix and creating a sustainable company is a big transition in itself.


  • Don’t be afraid to fail , but learn from it and pivot.
  • Before developing an AI feature or product, understand the user’s need.
  • There is no better teacher than early feedback.
  • Think monetization from day one , the free model is not always scalable.
  • From startup to scale , it is important to take the team and culture along.
How I Built A $1.4B Software Giant Called AmplitudeㅣSpenser Skates, Amplitude

0
X