Meta's AI Ambitions Trigger an Internal Rift over Strategy and Spending

There are growing tensions at Meta Platforms (META) as the social media company focuses more on artificial intelligence. According to a report by The New York Times, a divide has formed between Meta's top AI team and longtime leaders close to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. More precisely, the conflict centers around Alexandr Wang, who was recently hired to lead Meta's superintelligence project. Sources said that Wang privately disagreed with senior executives like product chief Chris Cox and tech chief Andrew Bosworth during meetings this fall.TipRanks Cyber Monday Sale Claim 60% off TipRanks Premium for data-backed insights and research tools you need to invest with confidence. Subscribe to TipRanks' Smart Investor Picks and see our data in action through our high-performing model portfolio - now also 60% off Cox and Bosworth reportedly wanted Wang's team to focus on using data from Instagram and Facebook to train Meta's new AI model. Their goal was to boost Meta's social media content and advertising tools. However, Wang argued that Meta should first aim to catch up to leading AI models from OpenAI (PC:OPAIQ) and Google (GOOGL), and only then focus on improving its own products. There are also disagreements over how to divide computing power within the company. Teams working on social media algorithms believe that they should get more resources to improve their services, while the AI lab wants more power for training its new models. According to the Times, Bosworth was recently asked to cut $2 billion from next year's Reality Labs budget, with the money expected to go to Wang's team. However, a Meta spokesperson denied both the conflict and the budget shift. Is Meta a Buy, Sell, or Hold? Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on META stock based on 36 Buys, six Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average META price target of $832.06 per share implies 28.6% upside potential.