Indian-origin Chaya Nayak quits Meta to join OpenAI as Zuckerberg loses key AI researchers: 'Perfect next chapter'

Chaya Nayak, a long-time Meta executive director, has proclaimed that she is leaving the societal media whale to fall in OpenAI. The Indian-origin employee's departure signals a notable loss for Mark Zuckerberg, who now faces the challenge of replacing one of Meta’s key AI researchers.

In a detailed LinkedIn post, Nayak reflected on her 10-year journey at Meta, recalling how she started with the Data for Good initiative. “I remember my first weeks at Facebook like they were yesterday. I joined to help jumpstart Data for Good, an effort to show how data and AI/ML could benefit the world. What started as a bold experiment grew into the foundation of my career,” she wrote.

Nayak shared that over the years, she held key roles at the social media giant and worked on projects that addressed global challenges. “Meta gave me the chance to build products that supported communities in crisis with Disaster Maps,” she shared. She also led the Facebook Open Research and Transparency (FORT) team, focusing on “data cleaning, differential privacy, and data clean rooms” to enable researchers to study the platform responsibly.

Her tenure at Meta also saw Nayak lead pivotal projects such as supporting global responses during the US 2020 elections and collaborating on academic publications about Meta’s impact on democracy.

More recently, Nayak worked on Generative AI, including building three generations of Llama and Meta AI. “In the last 2.5 years, I worked on GenAI – building three generations of Llama and Meta AI, solving hard problems at incredible speed, and imagining what the next wave of AI could mean for society,” she wrote.

“Along the way, I grew as a leader. I learned confidence, boldness to chase audacious ideas, and resilience when things didn’t go as planned. Most importantly, I built a network of colleagues and friends who shaped me and inspired me every step of the way,” Nayak said.

Announcing her new role, Nayak wrote, “Today, I’m joining OpenAI to work with Irina Kofman on Special Initiatives – exploring new opportunities at the frontier of AI. It feels like the perfect next chapter: to take everything I’ve learned, and pour it into work that will help define what comes next for technology and society.”

“The journey isn’t over. I’m just turning the page,” she added.

Chaya Nayak's departure is part of a broader trend of prominent AI experts leaving Meta in recent months. According to a report by Wired, at least three employees hired for Meta's Superintelligence Labs (MSL) have left the company in less than a month.

Rishabh Agarwal, Avi Verma, and Ethan Knight have all left the tech giant, with the latter two headed back to Sam Altman-led OpenAI.

Agarwal’s departure was particularly surprising given his seven-figure salary. He announced his decision in an elaborate social media post, calling it a “tough decision”, but that he “felt the pull to take on a different kind of risk.”

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