According to reports, Meta has appointed Robert Fergus as the head of its Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab.

Based on his LinkedIn profile, Fergus served as a research director at Google DeepMind for approximately five years. His LinkedIn also indicates that prior to joining Google, he worked as a research scientist at Meta.

The report highlights that Meta's FAIR division, established in 2013, has faced significant challenges in recent years. FAIR played a critical role in the development of early AI models during the company’s initial stages, including Llama 1 and Llama 2. However, it is reported that many researchers have since departed from the team, moving to other startups, corporations, or even Meta's new GenAI group, which is responsible for the development of Llama 4.

In April, Meta’s former VP of AI Research, Joelle Pineau, announced her departure from the company to pursue new opportunities.