Meta’s Zuckerberg creates board to advise on AI products

(Bloomberg) — Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has created a new product advisory board — a group that will meet periodically with Meta’s management team and offer guidance on the company’s artificial intelligence and technological advances.

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The Meta Advisory Group, as it will be called, will be made up of four executives: the CEO and co-founder of Stripe Inc., Patrick Collison; former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman; CEO of Shopify Inc., Tobi Lütke; and Charlie Songhurst, investor and former Microsoft Corp. executive. Neither man will be paid, a Meta spokesperson confirmed.

“I have come to deeply respect this group of people and their achievements in their respective fields, and I am grateful that they are willing to share their perspectives with Meta at such an important time as we seize new opportunities with AI and the metaverse,” wrote Zuckerberg in the internal note to employees, which was reviewed by Bloomberg.

Meta already has an 11-person board of directors, although one of those members, former chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, will not run for re-election at Meta’s annual meeting at the end of the month. The Meta Advisory Group will differ from a board because its members are not elected by shareholders and have no fiduciary obligation to the company, a spokesperson said.

“This advisory group is tasked with providing insights and recommendations on technological advancements, innovation and strategic growth opportunities,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

The creation of the group comes as Meta seeks to reinvigorate its momentum in AI-focused products. This includes hardware devices like Quest virtual reality headsets and Ray-Ban smart glasses, but also software products like Meta’s AI assistant, which the company offers to consumers through several of its apps. .

Read more: Meta Offers Marketers New AI Tools to Create Ad Campaigns

Zuckerberg told investors during Meta’s earnings call last month that the company would increase its capital expenditures this year to drive further AI development. “We have become more optimistic and ambitious about AI,” Zuckerberg said in late April. “We have reached a point where we have demonstrated that we can build leading models and be the leading AI company in the world. And that opens up many additional opportunities beyond those that are most obvious to us.”

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The CEO also urged investors to be patient, noting that many of the company’s AI efforts will not produce immediate financial returns. In the race to develop AI models that can underpin the next generation of technology products, the company faces rivals such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Microsoft Corp. and Microsoft Corp. and partner OpenAI, and startup Anthropic.

It’s unclear how often the product advisory group will meet, though Zuckerberg said he would advise Meta’s management team “periodically” in the future.

(Updates to include more product information starting in sixth paragraph.)

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