The maths behind artificial intelligence is complicated but, when it comes to creating “personal superintelligence”, Mark Zuckerberg appears to be operating on the basis of a simple equation: if hiring one star AI researcher is good for his clandestine project, it will be even better if he recruits dozens.

The founder of Meta is spending tens of billions of dollars on new facilities, equipment and talent. The group has hired some 50 scientists so far for its superintelligence lab, reportedly dangling nine-figure sign-on bonuses in front of the best AI minds.

Money does talk. On Friday, Meta announced the hiring of Shengjia Zhao, co-creator of arch-rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT, as the lab’s chief AI scientist. He will report to another recent high-profile hire, maths prodigy Alexandr Wang. But Zuckerberg has also been rebuffed by many of his targets. Scientists and engineers are motivated by multiple considerations. Some members of the AI elite have preferred to stay put at Meta’s rivals, driven by their ethical positions on the use of the technology, loyalty to teammates or, perhaps, the greater rewards they think will come from keeping an equity stake in a successful smaller company.