Shengjia Zhao

Shengjia Zhao is an AI researcher who, according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's internal memo on Meta Superintelligence Labs and TechCrunch's coverage of that memo, has been described as a co-creator of ChatGPT, GPT-4, and several OpenAI reasoning and “mini” models.^[1][4]​ He worked at OpenAI on ChatGPT, GPT-4, and AI reasoning models before becoming the Chief Scientist of Meta's Superintelligence Labs (MSL), a division of Meta focused on advancing the Llama model series and long-term artificial intelligence research.^[2]​

Education

Zhao graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University in 2016. He then pursued his PhD in Computer Science at Stanford University, graduating in 2022.^[3]

Career

Shengjia Zhao worked as a research scientist at OpenAI, where Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's internal memo and TechCrunch credit him with major contributions to ChatGPT, GPT-4, and OpenAI's first AI reasoning model, o1, as well as to a new scaling paradigm and later reasoning systems.^[1][4]​ He additionally helped lead synthetic data efforts at OpenAI.^[4]​

In 2024, Zhao co-founded Meta's new Superintelligence Labs (MSL) and served as its lead scientist from its inception. He was formally named Chief Scientist of Meta Superintelligence Labs on July 25, 2025. In this role, Zhao sets the scientific research agenda for MSL and works closely with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, who leads the unit. His work focuses on advancing fundamental research, including for AI reasoning models and the Llama model series, and on developing next-generation AI systems. Meta also maintains a separate, long-standing chief AI scientist role held by Yann LeCun, who leads the FAIR lab.^[1][4][5]​

Superintelligence Labs (MSL)

Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) is a division within Meta created in 2024–2025 to consolidate and accelerate the company’s AI efforts, with a particular focus on the Llama model family and longer-horizon superintelligence and AGI research.^[1] MSL brings together Meta’s foundation-model, product, and research teams under Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, with Nat Friedman helping lead products and applied research within the group.^[1][4] The division was announced in an internal memo from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and has recruited researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Safe Superintelligence, Apple, Anthropic, and Meta’s existing FAIR and generative AI organizations.^[1][4]