Metas billionaire AI star Alexandr Wang thinks boss Mark Zuckerbergs micromanaging is suffocating: report

Meta paid billions to bring billionaire AI prodigy Alexandr Wang on board — but the tech wunderkind now privately believes CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s micromanagement of the company’s AI push is “suffocating,” according to a bombshell report.Wang, the 28-year-old founder of Scale AI who joined Meta earlier this year after the company shelled out more than $14 billion for a 49% stake in his startup, was installed as the public face of Zuckerberg’s AI reboot.But behind the scenes, Wang has complained to associates that Zuckerberg’s tight grip on the effort is stifling progress, the Financial Times reported, citing multiple people familiar with the situation.Wang’s unhappiness is just the latest manifestation of the internal upheaval engulfing Meta, which has been beset by repeated layoffs, senior executive exits, rushed AI rollouts and eye-popping spending that has shaken morale and fueled investor anxiety.One major sign of trouble that reared its head earlier this year was the botched rollout of Meta’s highly anticipated AI model, Llama 4.Despite ambitious expectations, Llama 4 lagged behind rivals on key benchmarks such as coding and complex reasoning.Meta was also accused of trying to game AI leaderboards by submitting a customized version for rankings.Inside Meta, the setback was seen as a humiliating blow to Zuckerberg’s pledge to turn the company into an AI powerhouse within a short period of time.Current and former employees blamed weak training data, insufficient testing and deep organizational dysfunction.“Our tools and products became fragmented because so many teams were rooting for their own products that no one was really thinking about how they worked together,” one Meta insider told the FT.Rather than slow down, Zuckerberg doubled down — launching a hiring blitz across Silicon Valley, dangling compensation packages worth up to $100 million and pouring tens of billions of dollars into AI infrastructure.Wang, who was widely viewed as ...