- Facebook parent company Meta has split its Responsible AI division, the team dedicated to regulating the security of its artificial intelligence ventures.
- Most of the responsible AI staff have been transferred to the Generative AI product development team.
- The move comes after a slew of layoffs and team reshuffling changes at the company this year.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, attends a bipartisan U.S. Senate Artificial Intelligence Insight Forum at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, September 13, 2023.
Stefani Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
Meta has dissolved its Responsible AI division, the team dedicated to regulating the security of its artificial intelligence ventures as they are developed and deployed, a Meta spokesperson said.
Most members of the RAI team have been moved to the company’s Generative AI product division, while some others will now work in the AI Infrastructure team, the spokesperson said. The news was first reported by The Information.
Born in February, the Genative AI team focuses on developing products that generate language and images to mimic the equivalent human-made version. It came as companies across the technology industry invested money in machine learning development to avoid being left behind in the AI race. Meta is among the Big Tech companies that have been catching up since the AI boom arrived.
RAI’s restructuring comes as the Facebook parent company nears the end of its “year of efficiency,” as CEO Mark Zuckerberg called it during an earnings call in February. So far, this has resulted in a wave of layoffs, team mergers and reshuffling within the company.
Ensuring the safety of AI has become a stated priority of top players in the space, especially as regulators and other officials pay more attention to the potential harms of the emerging technology. In July, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI formed an industry group specifically focused on setting security standards as AI continues to evolve.
Although RAI employees are now spread across the organization, the spokesperson noted that they will continue to support “responsible AI development and use.”
“We continue to prioritize and invest in safe and responsible AI development,” the spokesperson said.