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Meta is creating a new AI lab to pursue ‘superintelligence’

SAN FRANCISCO (NYT) — Meta is preparing to unveil a new artificial intelligence research lab dedicated to pursuing “superintelligence,” a hypothetical AI system that exceeds the powers of the human brain, as the tech giant jockeys to stay competitive in the technology race, according to four people with knowledge of the company’s plans.

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Meta has tapped Alexandr Wang, 28, the founder and CEO of AI startup Scale AI, to join the new lab, the people said, and has been in talks to invest billions of dollars in his company as part of a deal that would also bring other Scale AI employees to the company. Meta has offered seven- to nine-figure compensation packages to dozens of researchers from leading AI companies such as OpenAI and Google, with some agreeing to join, according to the people.

Staying in the race is crucial for Meta, Google, Amazon and Microsoft, with the technology likely to be the future for the industry. The giants have pumped money into startups and their own AI labs. Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI, while Amazon has plowed $8 billion into AI startup Anthropic.

The behemoths have also spent billions to hire employees from high-profile startups and license their technology.

Superintelligence is regarded by leading researchers to be a futuristic goal of AI development. OpenAI, Google and others have said their immediate aim is to build “artificial general intelligence,” or AGI, shorthand for a machine that can do anything the human brain can do, which is an ambition with no clear path to success. Superintelligence, if it can be developed, would go beyond AGI in its power.

US teacher seized by Russia is located in prison

(NYT) — After months without contact, Stephen James Hubbard, a retired American teacher taken from his eastern Ukrainian home by Russian soldiers shortly after Russia invaded in February 2022, has been located in a Russian prison in Mordovia.

His family had no information on his whereabouts since his criminal conviction in 2024. But in recent weeks, he has been able to call one of his sons.

Hubbard is the only American remaining in Russia who has been designated by the U.S. State Department as “wrongfully detained,” an indication that the United States believes the charges against him are fabricated. Given the designation, he is likely a top candidate in any potential prisoner exchange being discussed between Russia and the United States.

Hubbard, 73, was accused of manning a checkpoint and fighting for Ukraine, and then convicted by Russia of being a mercenary in October and sentenced to almost seven years in a penal colony.

After that, Hubbard’s family was not able to find him in Russia’s prison system. In a highly unusual move, the Russian judge removed his case file, including even basic information like his lawyer’s name, from public view.

Documents reviewed by The New York Times show that Hubbard is being held in the IK-12 penal colony in Mordovia, the southwestern Russian region commonly referred to as “prison land.”

In addition, sentencing documents reviewed by the Times, which have not been previously reported, outline the Russian case against Hubbard and its contention that he was fighting for Ukraine. Recent interviews with one of Hubbard’s sons and others, as well as text messages he exchanged with that son, contradict the Russian narrative.