Meta's Llama AI team has been bleeding talent. Many top researchers have joined French AI startup Mistral.

Core Insights - Meta's open-source Llama models have been pivotal in shaping its AI strategy, but most of the original researchers have left the company, raising concerns about talent retention and innovation [1][5][9] Group 1: Talent Exodus - Of the 14 authors of the 2023 Llama paper, only three remain at Meta, indicating a significant loss of expertise [1] - Former Meta researchers have co-founded Mistral, a startup that is developing competitive open-source models, highlighting the brain drain from Meta [2] - The average tenure of the departed authors was over five years, suggesting they were integral to Meta's AI initiatives [9] Group 2: Internal Challenges - Meta is facing internal pressures, including delays in its largest AI model, Behemoth, due to performance concerns [3] - The recent leadership changes within Meta's AI research team, including the departure of Joelle Pineau, reflect ongoing instability [4][5] - Meta's latest model, Llama 4, has received a lukewarm response from developers, who are increasingly looking to faster-moving competitors [3][5] Group 3: Competitive Landscape - Meta's initial lead in open-source AI has diminished, with competitors like DeepSeek and Qwen gaining traction [7] - Despite significant investments in AI, Meta lacks a dedicated reasoning model, which is becoming a critical feature in the industry [8] - The 2023 Llama paper was a landmark achievement that legitimized open-weight models, but the loss of original researchers poses a risk to maintaining that competitive edge [6][5]