loading
loading
The Scoop Meta AI researcher Andrew Tulloch, who gained attention for being one of the highest paid employees in the tech industry, is leaving the company, according to a person briefed on the matter. Tulloch, who came over from Thinking Machine Labs, has been delaying his departure until the company successfully launched its new family of open source AI models and AI assistant, Muse, which was announced Tuesday. Tulloch had worked in Meta’s TBD lab, the center of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitious AI strategy and spearheaded by Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang. It is unclear exactly why Tulloch left, or whether he plans to continue his AI research at another firm. He could not immediately be reached for comment. Know More Tulloch was reportedly recruited personally by Mark Zuckberg, who offered him a $1.5 billion pay package over six years. That number has been disputed, but even if it was close, it would have made Tulloch the highest paid employee in the history of the tech industry. With the AI race in full gear, the rarefied skills possessed by the top thinkers in the field are in extremely high demand. Talented researchers dart between leading labs like Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, SpaceXAI and Meta. Tulloch could command a high salary at another lab, or raise billions from venture capitalists for a startup of his own, like OpenAI’s Ilya Sutskever or Google’s Jeff Dean did. The question is how long the high-priced revolving door at AI companies will last until the talent field adjusts and creates more supply.
document fetched 2026-09-10 02:57 · canonical https://semafor.com/article/09/09/2026/ai-researcher-andrew-tulloch-is-leaving-meta