Andrew Tulloch, the AI researcher whose name became shorthand for the nine-figure recruiting wars reshaping Silicon Valley, has left Meta roughly a year after joining, according to Semafor. The departure came just one day after the company unveiled Muse, an agentic AI platform built for everyday users rather than developers or AI specialists.
Tulloch has not publicly said why he left or where he is going. Neither Meta nor Tulloch has offered an explanation for the timing.
A hire that made headlines
His arrival at Meta was anything but quiet. Last year, the Wall Street Journal detailed how Tulloch had co-founded Thinking Machines Lab alongside former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. Mark Zuckerberg reportedly tried to buy the startup outright. When that approach failed, he went around the company and made offers to its staff directly.
One of those offers landed with Tulloch: a package that could have been worth as much as $1.5 billion over six years, depending on bonuses and how Meta’s stock performed. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone denied the report at the time, calling it “inaccurate and ridiculous.” Tulloch ended up at Meta anyway. What he was actually paid remains unknown.
Inside Meta, Tulloch worked in the company’s TBD lab, part of its Superintelligence Labs division, and reported to Meta AI chief Alexandr Wang — the billionaire who co-founded and formerly ran Scale AI. Tulloch’s personal website notes that he grew up in Perth, Australia, studied math at the University of Sydney, and continued his education at Cambridge. It describes his Meta work in three words: “working on superintelligence.”
A broader pattern of exits
Zuckerberg is not the only AI chief dealing with high-profile departures. Breitbart News has reported that Sam Altman’s OpenAI has become a revolving door for executives, particularly those working on safety and alignment.
Chloé Bakalar, OpenAI’s head of ethics and reportedly the company’s only dedicated ethicist, left less than a year after joining. Her exit followed several other recent departures among people responsible for safety work at the maker of ChatGPT.
Johannes Heidecke, who led OpenAI’s Safety Systems team, announced his departure in July. Josh Achiam, who previously led the company’s Mission Alignment team before becoming chief futurist, has also reportedly left. OpenAI had already disbanded the Mission Alignment team earlier this year.
Any one of those exits might look like ordinary turnover at a fast-moving technology company. Taken together — three leaders gone within weeks of each other — they raise questions about who inside OpenAI has the standing to declare that a model has gone too far, especially as the company builds systems designed to operate with less human oversight.
The backdrop: an industry arms race
For all the money being spent and the talent being shuffled, the AI sector remains in a state of churn. Companies are competing in what amounts to a multibillion-dollar game of chess, and the movement of a single researcher can shift perceptions about which lab holds the advantage.
Tulloch’s exit is notable precisely because of how much was reportedly wagered to bring him in. A pay package in the billion-dollar range signaled that Meta was willing to spend at a scale previously associated with acquiring entire companies, not individual employees. Whether his departure reflects dissatisfaction, a better offer elsewhere, or something else entirely, the silence from both sides leaves the question open.
Meta declined to elaborate beyond its prior comments on the recruiting reports. Tulloch’s next move has not been disclosed.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2026/09/10/mark-zuckerbergs-ai-golden-child-walks-away-from-meta/