Meta's AI Chief Joelle Pineau Steps Down After 8 Years

Meta AI research head, Joelle Pineau, is leaving the organization after close to eight years of service. Pineau, appointed as the Meta Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) unit leader in early 2023, will be leaving on May 30, 2025. The exit takes place when Meta is placing an enormous bet in AI, poised to spend a whopping $65 billion in AI infrastructure this single year alone.

Pineau was also deeply involved in the creation of some of the most important AI initiatives, such as PyTorch, FAISS, and Llama, Meta's open-source large language model. Pineau oversaw voice translation and image recognition efforts as well.

 Pineau remained confident that Meta would be able to continue advancing AI systems responsibly after she departed.

Meta has started looking for a replacement for Pineau but has not yet made a formal announcement. Meta's competitive advantage in AI could be eroded by her departure as the company is under tremendous pressure from rivals such as Google and OpenAI.

Pineau is going to have some time to think before she starts another project.