Pineau, Meta’s head of AI research, has announced her decision to step down after eight years with the company. She will remain at Meta until May to “observe and reflect,” according to a note she shared with colleagues on Facebook.
Pineau, who also serves as a computer science professor at McGill University, explained that the timing was right for a change, especially as the world rapidly transforms and the race for AI development intensifies. “Today, as the world undergoes significant change, as the race for AI accelerates, and as Meta prepares for its next chapter, it is time to create space for others to pursue the work,” she said in the note.
Under Pineau’s leadership, Meta’s FAIR team created and nurtured several major AI projects, including PyTorch, FAISS, Roberta, Dino, Llama, SAM, Codegen, and Audiobox. These innovations have played a significant role in shaping Meta’s AI research and have become essential tools used by teams across the company. Pineau reflected on the team’s impact, noting that these AI advancements have made their way into the hands of millions of researchers, entrepreneurs, students, and others worldwide.
Her team was also central to Meta’s development of voice translation, image recognition, and the creation of “advanced machine intelligence,” AI systems capable of humanlike reasoning. “I have so much affection and appreciation for my close team, the FAIR Leads, all the FAIR researchers, our cross-function partners, and many close collaborators,” Pineau wrote. “You have been there every day of this journey, trying to reinvent the world with me.”
Pineau’s departure comes at a pivotal time for Meta, which is investing heavily in AI to compete with rivals such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Elon Musk’s xAI. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has prioritized AI, pledging up to $65 billion for related projects in 2025. Meta is also pushing its open-source large language model, Llama, aiming to make it an industry standard while expanding its AI chatbot to reach 1 billion users across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Meta has not yet named a successor for Pineau but confirmed that the search is underway. The company restructured its AI teams last year, integrating FAIR more closely with product development to accelerate the deployment of AI innovations. A Meta spokesperson assured that Pineau’s departure would not alter the company’s AI strategy, stating, “Meta remains committed to AI research, and our plans remain unchanged.”
