News Summary

Meta has appointed Robert Fergus as the new head of its Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab. Fergus, who previously worked at Google DeepMind as a research director, returns to Meta where he was initially a research scientist. The FAIR lab, established in 2013, has been pivotal in Meta’s AI advancements, including the development of early AI models like Llama 1 and Llama 2. However, the lab has faced significant challenges with many researchers leaving for startups, other companies, or Meta’s newer GenAI group. Joelle Pineau, the previous VP of AI Research at Meta, recently left for a new opportunity.