The AI Talent Wars: Meta Snags Another Thinking Machines Engineer

Silicon Valley's battle for artificial intelligence expertise just escalated another notch. Meta has successfully recruited Joshua Gross, a senior software engineer from rising star startup Thinking Machines, continuing its aggressive poaching campaign against smaller AI firms.

The Latest Defection

Gross, whose LinkedIn profile quietly updated last month, now leads an engineering team at Meta's Super Intelligence Lab. His departure represents a significant loss for Thinking Machines - Gross built their flagship product Tinker, an innovative creative suite for AI-assisted video, image, and 3D content generation.

"This is exactly the kind of talent Meta needs right now," says industry analyst Rachel Wong. "Someone who's shipped actual AI products, not just published research papers."

A Recurring Pattern

This marks the sixth time Meta has raided Thinking Machines' talent pool:

• Andrew Tulloch, co-founder (joined Meta 2025)
• Four other founding team members (2024-2025)

The startup isn't just losing people to Meta either. OpenAI nabbed former CTO Barret Zoph and cybersecurity expert Jolene Parish last year.

Fighting Back

Thinking Machines isn't taking this lying down. The $12 billion startup has made some impressive counter-hires:

• Soumith Chintala, creator of PyTorch (now CTO)
• Neal Wu, champion competitive programmer

Since its $2 billion funding round last year, the company has grown to about 130 employees - small compared to tech giants, but packed with elite AI talent.

The Skyrocketing Cost of Talent

Companies are paying staggering sums to secure (or keep) top AI experts:

• $100 million+ - Meta's reported offer to poach OpenAI staff
• $2.4 billion - Google's contract for Windsurf CEO
• $200-400k - Apple's stock bonuses for hardware designers

"It's like the NBA for AI researchers," jokes one recruiter. "Except the contracts make LeBron James look underpaid."

What's Next?

With demand for AI skills far outstripping supply, this talent tug-of-war shows no sign of cooling off. For startups like Thinking Machines, keeping their stars may require more than just competitive salaries - they'll need to offer compelling missions and creative freedom that tech giants can't match.

Key Points:

• Meta continues aggressive hiring from AI startups
• Thinking Machines has lost six key team members to Meta
• Startup fighting back with high-profile hires of its own
• Talent war driving salaries to unprecedented levels
• Limited supply of top AI experts maintains intense competition