Meta lets go of the Virtue AI safety team (Bo Li, Dawn Song, Sanmi Koyejo) four months after hiring it
On Oct 2, 2026 Meta told Semafor that it is parting ways with the employees it hired in June from the AI security startup Virtue AI, including co-founders Bo Li, Dawn Song and Sanmi Koyejo. A spokesperson cited clashing work styles. The exit came the same week OpenAI fired three safety researchers and lost a Safety Systems leader.
Key facts
- Hired June 25, 2026 into Meta Superintelligence Labs: Li and Song reported to Nat Friedman, Koyejo to FAIR head Rob Fergus; Song joined as a VP of AI research (AI Weekly)
- Virtue AI built enterprise AI security tooling (automated red teaming, runtime guardrails, governance) and had worked with Anthropic, OpenAI and NIST (Semafor)
- Meta spokesperson Andy Stone: 'Unfortunately, the arrangement didn't work out as planned'; Meta says it remains focused on 'AI safety, alignment and frontier risk'
- Reason given: clashing work styles; the number of people leaving was not disclosed
What happened
In June Meta hired the core team of Virtue AI, a startup co-founded by the well-known AI security researchers Dawn Song (UC Berkeley), Bo Li and Sanmi Koyejo, into Meta Superintelligence Labs to work on agent security. On Oct 2 Meta confirmed to Semafor that the arrangement had ended.
Why it matters
Meta had hired the team to strengthen agent security while scrutiny of agent behaviour was growing. Losing it four months later, in the same week OpenAI lost four safety staff, adds to questions about how frontier labs staff their safety and security work.
Changelog
- 2026-10-03: created (01:30 quick run, sweep/Techmeme)
Related events
- OpenAI fires three safety researchers who allegedly shared confidential information with an outside AI safety organization ★★★★
- OpenAI Safety Systems leader David Robinson resigns, days after three safety researchers were fired ★★★
Sources (3)
- pressSemafor: Meta parts ways with Virtue AI
- pressAI Weekly: Meta hires three Virtue AI founders into Superintelligence Labs (June)
- pressAI Weekly: Meta parts ways with Virtue AI team hired four months ago
id: 2026-10-02-meta-lets-go-virtue-ai-team · updated 2026-10-03 · open in the interactive timeline