An Australian artificial intelligence expert has reportedly turned down a staggering billion-dollar offer from Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta.

 

 

 

 

Andrew Tulloch, a University of Sydney graduate who grew up in Perth, spent more than a decade working at Facebook’s parent company before joining rival OpenAI.

 

 

 

 

In February, Tulloch co-founded AI start-up Thinking Machines Lab with former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati. The company is now reportedly valued at US$12 billion (A$18.5 billion).

 

 

 

According to the Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg tried to buy Thinking Machines Lab earlier this year, but Murati rejected his offer. Meta’s CEO then attempted to lure the company’s top talent, including Tulloch.

 

 

 

 

Tulloch was allegedly offered a US$1 billion (A$1.55 billion) pay package spread over six years, with the potential for even more through bonuses and stock performance.

 

 

 

 

However, the Perth-born ‘genius’ turned the offer down. Meta later told the Journal the reported US$1 billion figure was ‘inaccurate and ridiculous’.

 

 

 

Mr Tulloch moved to the US in 2012 and spent 11 years at Facebook’s AI company, where he rose to the role of distinguished engineer.

 

 

 

Mike Vernal, a former Facebook executive who worked with Mr Tulloch, said: ‘He was definitely known as an extreme genius.’

 

 

 

In 2023, he moved to OpenAI, the research organisation behind ChatGPT, before joining former colleagues in forming Thinking Machines Lab this year.

 

 

 

The start-up cites its mission of making ‘AI systems more widely understood, customizable and generally capable’.