Who is Daniel Gross? Tech veteran who joins Meta as Zuckerberg deepens AI talent hunt

Daniel Gross, the former chief executive and co-founder of Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI), has joined Meta Platforms’ newly formed superintelligence lab, marking another significant move in the ongoing AI talent war.

Gross is set to work on artificial intelligence products under Meta’s superintelligence unit, his spokesperson Lulu Meservey confirmed. The development follows Meta’s recent restructuring of its AI division and a flurry of high-profile hires aimed at pushing the boundaries of artificial general intelligence (AGI), AI systems capable of human-level or superior cognition.

Ilya Sutskever, Gross’s co-founder at SSI and the former chief scientist at OpenAI, announced on Friday that Gross had stepped down from his role at the AI startup. Sutskever will now assume the position of CEO at SSI. While Gross refrained from mentioning Meta directly in his farewell post on X, he wrote, “The company’s future is very bright, and I expect miracles to follow.”

Gross’s departure from SSI comes just months after the stealth-mode startup was launched with a focus on building safe and aligned superintelligence. His move to Meta is seen as part of a wider recruitment strategy personally spearheaded by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Reports suggest that Zuckerberg has been actively courting leading AI minds, even inviting prospective hires to his residences in Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe.

Gross is not the only prominent figure to have joined Meta’s superintelligence efforts. Nat Friedman, former GitHub CEO and Gross’s long-time collaborator in venture capital firm NFDG, has also signed on. He now co-leads Meta’s superintelligence initiative alongside former Scale AI chief executive Alexandr Wang.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Meta has offered to acquire a minority stake in NFDG’s funds, a venture firm co-founded by Gross and Friedman, potentially deepening the partnership.

Gross’s career spans a variety of roles across Silicon Valley’s tech landscape. He co-founded Cue, an AI-powered search startup that was acquired by Apple in 2013. Following the acquisition, he worked on Apple’s AI and search initiatives until 2017, and later served as a partner at startup accelerator Y Combinator.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)