Joelle Pineau Leaves Meta After 8 Years of AI Leadership

Joelle Pineau, the Vice President of AI Research at Meta, has confirmed she will be stepping down after an impactful eight years with the company. In a post on LinkedIn, Pineau shared that her final day with Meta will be May 30, 2025, and expressed gratitude for the experience, saying, “It has been an incredible journey, and I am grateful for everything this role has brought me.”

Pineau's Early Years and Leadership at Meta

Joining Meta in 2017, Pineau initially led the company’s Montreal-based AI research lab. By 2023, she had risen to head Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team. Throughout her tenure, Pineau played a key role in significant AI advancements, including the development of the Llama series, Meta's open-source large language models (LLMs), and the highly influential PyTorch machine learning framework. Her leadership extended to various AI innovations such as voice translation, image recognition, and much more. Additionally, Pineau continues her academic work as a computer science professor at McGill University, where she co-directs the Reasoning and Learning Lab.

Meta’s Expanding AI Ambitions Amid Pineau’s Departure

Pineau’s departure comes at a critical juncture for Meta, as the company continues to ramp up its AI initiatives. Under CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision, Meta has made AI a central part of its future, with aspirations to create an AI assistant that will eventually serve over a billion users and, long-term, pursue the creation of artificial general intelligence (AGI). To support these ambitious plans, Meta is investing between $60 billion and $65 billion in AI this year, with a major expansion in data centers and a substantial increase in its GPU fleet, which will reach 1.3 million units.

Llama and Meta's Role in the AI Landscape

Meta’s Llama models now stand as the leading open-source alternatives to proprietary LLMs like OpenAI’s GPT and Google’s Gemini. With the upcoming LlamaCon developer conference on April 29, 2025, Meta is expected to unveil even more advancements in generative AI. Earlier in March, Meta’s Chief Product Officer, Chris Cox, hinted that Llama 4 would power the next generation of AI agents, cementing Meta’s competitive edge in the AI race.

Pineau’s Future Plans and Farewell

While Pineau has not revealed her future plans, she mentioned that she intends to take time for reflection before exploring new professional opportunities. In her farewell message, she added, “I’ll be cheering you all on as Meta continues to innovate and bring world-class AI solutions to billions of people around the globe.”

Meta’s Search for a New Head of FAIR

Meta has not yet appointed a successor to Pineau, but the search for a new head of FAIR is already underway.