Meta is in talks to hire AI investors Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross and partially buy out their venture capital fund, NFDG. The move aims to bring Friedman and Gross in to lead Meta’s AI efforts, sources told The Information on June 18.
NFDG backs AI startups like Perplexity, The Bot Company, and Safe Superintelligence. If Meta buys part of NFDG, it would hold minority stakes in these startups without access to inside info.
Gross, who co-founded Safe Superintelligence, would leave that role if he joins Meta. Friedman already consults Meta executives on AI. 
This follows Meta’s recent significant investment in data-labeling startup Scale AI and the hiring of its founder, Alexandr Wang, for AI work.
Meta is aggressively poaching top AI engineers, aiming to hire around 50 for its artificial general intelligence team, including a chief scientist. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken a hands-on approach, meeting with AI talent at his homes.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently said Meta is offering nine-figure signing bonuses to lure employees away.
Meta also reordered its generative AI team in May to speed up product rollouts and challenge competitors.
No official comment from Meta yet.
