Mark Zuckerberg just posted a totally normal and fine photo with Alexandr Wang

Amid rumors of tension, Mark Zuckerberg posts "meanwhile at Meta HQ" with his arm around Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang.

  • Mark Zuckerberg posted a photo to Threads with the Scale AI founder after rumors of tension.
  • Meta has created a new AI engineering team, separate from Wang's AI team at the company.
  • Meta denies that Zuckerberg is "done with" Wang.

Folks, it's just a totally normal day over at Meta HQ. Nothing to see here, no unsubstantiated rumors of a feud, no billion-dollar breakup. Just two totally happy, smiling colleagues.

See? Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, just posted this photo of himself linking arms with Alexandr Wang, the founder of Scale AI and now head of AI Superintelligence at Meta. Just two happy dudes!

 

<svg aria-label="Threads" height="32px" role="img" viewBox="0 0 192 192" width="32px" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M141.537 88.9883C140.71 88.5919 139.87 88.2104 139.019 87.8451C137.537 60.5382 122.616 44.905 97.5619 44.745C97.4484 44.7443 97.3355 44.7443 97.222 44.7443C82.2364 44.7443 69.7731 51.1409 62.102 62.7807L75.881 72.2328C81.6116 63.5383 90.6052 61.6848 97.2286 61.6848C97.3051 61.6848 97.3819 61.6848 97.4576 61.6855C105.707 61.7381 111.932 64.1366 115.961 68.814C118.893 72.2193 120.854 76.925 121.825 82.8638C114.511 81.6207 106.601 81.2385 98.145 81.7233C74.3247 83.0954 59.0111 96.9879 60.0396 116.292C60.5615 126.084 65.4397 134.508 73.775 140.011C80.8224 144.663 89.899 146.938 99.3323 146.423C111.79 145.74 121.563 140.987 128.381 132.296C133.559 125.696 136.834 117.143 138.28 106.366C144.217 109.949 148.617 114.664 151.047 120.332C155.179 129.967 155.42 145.8 142.501 158.708C131.182 170.016 117.576 174.908 97.0135 175.059C74.2042 174.89 56.9538 167.575 45.7381 153.317C35.2355 139.966 29.8077 120.682 29.6052 96C29.8077 71.3178 35.2355 52.0336 45.7381 38.6827C56.9538 24.4249 74.2039 17.11 97.0132 16.9405C119.988 17.1113 137.539 24.4614 149.184 38.788C154.894 45.8136 159.199 54.6488 162.037 64.9503L178.184 60.6422C174.744 47.9622 169.331 37.0357 161.965 27.974C147.036 9.60668 125.202 0.195148 97.0695 0H96.9569C68.8816 0.19447 47.2921 9.6418 32.7883 28.0793C19.8819 44.4864 13.2244 67.3157 13.0007 95.9325L13 96L13.0007 96.0675C13.2244 124.684 19.8819 147.514 32.7883 163.921C47.2921 182.358 68.8816 191.806 96.9569 192H97.0695C122.03 191.827 139.624 185.292 154.118 170.811C173.081 151.866 172.51 128.119 166.26 113.541C161.776 103.087 153.227 94.5962 141.537 88.9883ZM98.4405 129.507C88.0005 130.095 77.1544 125.409 76.6196 115.372C76.2232 107.93 81.9158 99.626 99.0812 98.6368C101.047 98.5234 102.976 98.468 104.871 98.468C111.106 98.468 116.939 99.0737 122.242 100.233C120.264 124.935 108.662 128.946 98.4405 129.507Z"></path></svg>

View on Threads

<script async="" src="https://www.threads.com/embed.js"></script>

You, a normal person who happened to stumble across this photo while browsing Threads — where it's been widely circulated — might be confused. What's the deal with this photo?

Here's the backstory:

Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta reorganized its AI structure, creating a new group of applied AI engineers. Meta had brought in Alexandr Wang as chief AI officer last summer, after investing more than $14 billion for a 49% stake in Wang's data-labeling company, Scale AI. This brand new applied AI team, however, is separate from Wang's team, and reports up to CTO Andrew Bosworth, the Journal reported.

Here's where things get weird. Last week, the Times of India ran a headline saying "Mark Zuckerberg may be 'done with' Meta's highest-paid employee as company's reorganization shows." That story went mildly viral on Reddit and was aggregated by IDN Financials. Meta's spokesperson, Andy Stone, disputed the story on X, and as of Tuesday, the headline has been changed.

<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

So is Zuckerberg's photo designed to help quash rumors of tension between the two men? That Wang isn't being pushed out, and they're working together as normal?

While the whole blowup around the Times of India story was a big deal on X, where lots of people are interested in discussing news about the AI industry, Zuckerberg chose to post the photo to Threads, where chatter on AI office politics is much more muted.

Of course, Mark Zuckerberg has a lot of followers on Threads, but it seems most of them had no idea about what was going on. One of the top comments I saw was someone posting the "context?" guy meme, then more replies mistook Wang for Roy Lee of Cluely (oof), and someone replied asking Grok who was in the photo (oops).

And so here you have photographic evidence of two happy, normal guys and now you know the backstory if you didn't already. Now move along, nothing to see here!

The post Mark Zuckerberg just posted a totally normal and fine photo with Alexandr Wang appeared first on Business Insider