Meta loses its $1.5 billion AI recruit less than a year after hiring him
Andrew Tulloch initially turned down Meta’s reported compensation package before joining the company several months later. He has now resigned as Meta races to catch up with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
Meta has lost one of its most high-profile AI recruits less than a year after hiring him with a compensation package that was reportedly worth as much as $1.5 billion over six years.
Andrew Tulloch, a co-founder of AI startup Thinking Machines Lab, resigned from Meta on Wednesday without giving a reason for his departure, according to reports.
Tulloch is considered one of the most prominent researchers in his field. He spent 11 years at Meta before leaving in 2023 to co-found Thinking Machines Lab with former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati.
His return to Meta last year was part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s aggressive campaign to recruit top AI talent. Meta had previously tried to acquire Thinking Machines Lab outright, an approach Murati rejected. Zuckerberg then reportedly courted more than a dozen of the startup’s engineers, including Tulloch.
In October 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that Tulloch had been offered a compensation package worth up to $1.5 billion over six years, including salary, bonuses and stock incentives. Tulloch initially turned down the offer before joining Meta several months later.
His departure comes as Meta is trying to turn its enormous investment in AI talent into a stronger position in the increasingly competitive race with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Tulloch announced his resignation a day after Meta launched an AI agent for mainstream users capable of sending emails, shopping online and carrying out other tasks on users’ behalf.
Neither Tulloch nor Meta responded to requests for comment.
Tulloch’s departure is also the latest sign of the extraordinary movement of AI talent between the industry’s leading companies and startups. In recent weeks, other prominent researchers have also changed employers, underscoring how quickly the small pool of elite AI talent is being reshuffled.
Two other founders of Thinking Machines Lab, Barrett Zoff and Luke Metz, recently left OpenAI. Zoff moved to Google, while Metz joined Meta. Google chief scientist Jeff Dean and three other senior AI researchers have also left the company to launch startups of their own.
The churn extends beyond the technology giants. This week, a resignation message from Anthropic AI researcher Jacob Cookson drew attention after he warned that AI companies are “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.”
