Meta Hits Pause on AI Hiring After Costly Recruitment Spree

A Sudden Freeze After a Hiring Frenzy

Meta has temporarily frozen new hiring for its AI division after an aggressive recruitment campaign that shook up the talent market, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal.

Big Name Poaching and Big Price Tags

Over the past year, the company brought in dozens of high-profile researchers from rivals, including Google DeepMind, Apple, Anthropic, and OpenAI. Many of those hires were made with lavish compensation packages, in some cases, salaries and bonuses exceeding competitor offers by millions of dollars. The spree was part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s push to accelerate Meta’s in-house AI research through its newly launched TBD superintelligence lab.

Why Meta is Pumping the Brakes

The freeze does not reflect a strategic pullback from AI. Instead, Meta wants time to integrate the influx of new scientists, consolidate overlapping projects, and rein in spiraling costs. Some recent hires reportedly had not yet been assigned to concrete research tracks before the pause.

Morale and Pay Gap Pressures

The hiring spree also sparked internal tension. The Wall Street Journal reported that some longstanding AI employees expressed frustration over disparities in pay as newcomers arrived with much higher compensation. Balancing team morale while scaling research has become a key reason for slowing further additions.

Meta’s Position in the Global Talent War

Despite the pause, Meta remains one of the most aggressive spenders in the AI race. Zuckerberg has framed AI as central to Meta’s future growth, describing the high recruitment costs as essential to positioning the company as a leader in general-purpose intelligence.

The freeze also comes amid heightened competition, with Microsoft, OpenAI, and Google all engaged in similar bidding wars for elite AI talent. Analysts say Meta’s hiring slowdown may give rivals a small opening to attract top researchers without contending with its inflated offers.

What Comes Next

For now, Meta’s AI ambitions remain intact. However, the company is shifting its focus from rapid expansion to execution, integration, and cost discipline, putting its newly assembled roster of star researchers to work before embarking on another round of hiring.