Meta has hired a highly influential OpenAI researcher, Trapit Bansal, to work on its AI reasoning models under the company’s new AI superintelligence unit, a person familiar with the matter tells TechCrunch.

OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood confirmed to TechCrunch that Bansal had departed OpenAI. Bansal’s LinkedIn page says that he left OpenAI in June.

Bansal has worked at OpenAI since 2022 and was a key player in kickstarting OpenAI’s work on reinforcement learning alongside OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. Bansal is listed as a foundational contributor on OpenAI’s first AI reasoning model, o1.

Bansal could offer a significant lift to Meta’s AI superintelligence lab, which also features leaders such as former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and Safe Superintelligence co-founder Daniel Gross. Meta currently does not publicly offer an AI reasoning model as part of its Llama family of open models.

In recent months, Mark Zuckerberg has been on a hiring spree to build out Meta’s new AI team, offering $100 million compensation packages to top researchers who join his company. It’s unclear what Bansal was offered to join in this deal.

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates…