The Times of India just exposed how Zuck is building his superintelligence team. This isn’t HR doing interviews. This is the CEO of a $800 billion company personally studying research papers and sliding into PhDs’ DMs.
Here’s what’s actually happening:
Zuckerberg created something called “The List” – a curated database of AI talent that he personally maintains.
Think about that for a second. The guy running Meta is spending his time like a talent scout, researching individual researchers and their work.
The criteria is brutal:
PhD from UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, or similar elite institutions
Background at OpenAI, Google DeepMind, or top AI labs
Usually in their 20s or 30s (young genius territory)
Deep expertise in calculus, linear algebra, and probability theory
Proven track record in breakthrough AI research
But here’s the crazy part – Zuck isn’t just writing checks. He’s doing the homework himself.
His personal recruiting process:
→ Studies their research papers before reaching out
→ Leads strategy discussions in a WhatsApp group literally called “Recruiting Party”
→ Personally emails, texts, or WhatsApps candidates
→ Gets deeply involved in technical conversations
This confirms what most people are missing about Meta’s AI strategy.
While everyone thinks this is just about throwing money around, Zuckerberg is building something much more strategic – a handpicked superintelligence brain trust.
Most tech CEOs delegate recruitment to HR or talent teams. Zuck is personally vetting every single hire for his AI lab.
This isn’t random hiring. This is surgical talent acquisition.
Meta isn’t just trying to compete with OpenAI and Google. They’re trying to poach the exact people who built ChatGPT and Gemini.
And Zuckerberg is doing it personally because he knows that in the AGI race, talent is everything.
Think about the implications:
→ While other CEOs focus on strategy, Zuck is in the weeds recruiting individual researchers
→ Meta’s “Recruiting Party” WhatsApp group is probably more valuable than most company’s entire R&D budgets
→ Every hire is personally approved by someone who’s studied their actual research
Here’s what’s terrifying for the competition:
When the CEO of Meta is personally reading your research papers and crafting recruitment messages, you’re not just getting a job offer.
You’re getting recruited into what Zuckerberg believes will be the team that builds artificial general intelligence.
The Times of India report shows this isn’t about compensation alone. It’s about Zuck assembling the smartest people on the planet for one mission – superintelligence.
While OpenAI and Google are losing their best researchers, Meta’s CEO is personally hunting them down with a level of intentionality that’s honestly unprecedented.