Artificial Intelligence Experts join Meta... but it's not about the money? Really?

It was with some amusement that I spotted this article in recent times. In it, Meta head honcho Mark Zuckerberg is reported to have debunked the suggestion that A.I experts aren't joining Meta for money.

For context, Zuckerberg has been luring top A.I experts from Apple, Google and OpenAI. Interesting news, though not exactly noteworthy now, is it? Big Tech firms poaching from other Big Tech firms; nothing to see here, move along.

Meta catching those flies.

What was noteworthy was Zuckerberg's reaction to the suggestion that these new hires are joining for more than just the monstrous paycheck. He said these people were joining Meta for the opportunity to build superintelligent A.I systems without all the red tape and shit. Obviously, I'm just paraphrasing here, but you get the gist!

Wow, Zuck. Just wow. 

Just to be fair, while that statement elicited incredulous laughter, there have been reports that some companies in the A.I race have been less than enthused about A.I research for the sake of A.I research, seeing it as more of an avenue for profit. The thinking of business people, basically. 

And of course, being able to play with fancy new toys with almost unlimited resources is always nice. I imagine the "no red tape" thing was icing on top of a substantial cake.

But to say it's not about the money? That's a load of Facebook-shaped cap and we know it.

Facebook-shaped cap.

While I will concede that money probably isn't the only motivation, the fact remains that it's a pretty sizeable one.

Everyone, in some shape or form, is doing it for the money. Anyone who isn't, is either already unimaginably rich or just nuts. Meta's recent acquisition of Apple's top A.I engineer is costing them USD 200 million a year. That's not chump change, chum. (Say that three times fast, I dare you!) Apple declined to meet that price. Yes, Apple! 

What about the claim of building a superintelligence? Well, that requires context. For intelligence, what are we comparing against? The idiots currently raging on Social Media about Sydney Sweeney's jeans? The ones busy politicizing the death of Hulk Hogan? That's not a terribly high bar, really.

Final thoughts

All this is not to say that these AI experts shouldn't take the money. Au contraire, they absolutely should. A.I could be the thing of the future, that much is true. But it's hard to tell because that's what they all once said about NFTs and the Metaverse. Meta was even named after the latter!

Therefore, these A.I experts should make hay while people are still willing to pay them that amount of money, on the off-chance that this doesn't last. As history has proven, tech can be a fickle mistress.

"It's not about the money, money, money"... really?!
T___T