Who is Chaya Nayak, the Indian origin AI leader leaving Meta for OpenAI?

Chaya Nayak, one of Meta’s most experienced artificial intelligence executives, has announced her departure after nearly a decade at the company to join OpenAI. Her move marks another significant exit from Mark Zuckerberg’s AI ranks, as the competition for top talent in the sector intensifies.

In a reflective LinkedIn post, Nayak looked back on her 10-year journey with the social media giant. “I remember my first weeks at Facebook like they were yesterday. I joined to help jumpstart Data for Good, an effort to show how data and AI/ML could benefit the world. What started as a bold experiment grew into the foundation of my career,” she wrote.

Building AI for social impact

During her time at Meta, Nayak led projects that applied data and machine learning to pressing global challenges. She played a pivotal role in the Data for Good initiative, which sought to use AI for social benefit, and later oversaw the Facebook Open Research and Transparency (FORT) team. This unit developed privacy-protective tools to allow academics to study the platform’s impact responsibly.

Her contributions included Disaster Maps, designed to help communities in crisis, as well as research into the platform’s role in democracy, notably around the 2020 US elections. “Meta gave me the chance to build products that supported communities in crisis,” she noted, highlighting the broader societal applications of her work.

From social good to generative AI

In more recent years, Nayak shifted her focus to generative AI, becoming a key player in the development of three generations of Llama and Meta AI models. “In the last 2.5 years, I worked on GenAI – building three generations of Llama and Meta AI, solving hard problems at incredible speed, and imagining what the next wave of AI could mean for society,” she said.

Reflecting on her growth, she added: “Along the way, I grew as a leader. I learned confidence, boldness to chase audacious ideas, and resilience when things didn’t go as planned. Most importantly, I built a network of colleagues and friends who shaped me and inspired me every step of the way.”

The next chapter at OpenAI

Nayak is now set to join OpenAI, where she will work with Irina Kofman on Special Initiatives. “It feels like the perfect next chapter: to take everything I’ve learned, and pour it into work that will help define what comes next for technology and society,” she wrote, signing off with optimism: “The journey isn’t over. I’m just turning the page.”

Meta’s AI brain drain

Her exit is part of a wider pattern of departures from Meta’s AI division. Wired recently reported that at least three members of Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, Rishabh Agarwal, Avi Verma, and Ethan Knight, have left within weeks of each other. Verma and Knight have since joined OpenAI, while Agarwal described leaving his seven-figure role as a “tough decision” motivated by the urge to take “a different kind of risk.”

Nayak’s decision underscores the ongoing tug-of-war for AI talent, with OpenAI continuing to attract senior researchers from rivals. For Meta, replacing leaders of her calibre will likely prove a formidable challenge.