Meta’s frantic AI moves have big pro sports franchise “win now” vibes. The owner is fed up and wants a championship. This year.
The team had a promising start last season but ended up 6-10, finishing with a (Llama) 4 game losing streak.
The franchise has been beset with turmoil, suffering from high turnover and executive misalignment, stooping to benchmark hacking in the absence of a clear mission.
“I have yet to meet someone in Meta-GenAI that truly enjoys being there. Someone that feels like they want to stay in Meta for a long time because it’s such a great place,” wrote Blankevoort, referring to the nearly 2,000-person group that develops Meta’s flagship AI model, Llama. “You’ll be hard pressed to find someone that really believes in our AI mission. To most, it’s not even clear what our mission is.”
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One response after a mediocre campaign is to look inward and systematically address (fairly conspicuous) issues across the organization. Or the owner can fire the GM and take the reins personally. Pretty clear Meta has chosen the second path. Those organizational issues seem like one-offs, right?
The checkbook is out to assemble a “superteam” of the best researchers (that money can buy…). Luxury taxes and max contracts? No price too high! Free agents and blockbuster trades? Whatever it takes to acquire game-changing talent! Of course they’ll coalesce into a winning team.
The owner has personally selected the nucleus of superstars to deliver the trophy. Antitrust issues, shareholder discontent, and front office misgivings associated with those selections can be managed.
It is a full rebuild. In comes new management and a new team. And why not a new mission (personal superintelligence!) and strategy (bye bye open source?) too? What could go wrong?
With super intelligence right around the corner, it makes perfect sense to mortgage the franchise’s future today. The Zuck says “we should bet and act as if it’s going to be ready in the next two to three years”. Just like Reality Labs.
It is a whole new ballgame. The future is now. This time is different. Forget about last year. All gas, no brakes. Any given Sunday. They just need to play ’em one game at a time. Just win, baby. Past performance is no predictor of future results (or so they hope).
Think recent incarnations of the Broncos, Browns, Nets, or Suns. European readers may insert their own “football” references. Canadians have a wide selection of Maple Leaf teams to choose from.
For people who proudly proclaim themselves non-sportsball, the point is those “superteams” bombed, some in spectacular fashion. Money didn’t buy success, and mercenary flash mobs lost out to better managed teams with more cohesive philosophies of team building and development (often with more modest payrolls).
So we’ll see if cash is sufficient to capture the future (despite Meta being the runt of the hyperCAPEX litter) or does it require some combination of chemistry, focus, insight, strategy, and the ability to actually do new things?
Can “win now” Zuck be the Jerry Jones of the early 1990s? Or will he be more like the Jerry Jones of the last 30 years? Or worse, Mat Ishbia?
