Meta lost a third of its AI researchers over the last year. Now it's struggling to keep up.

• Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November, Meta has lost a third of its published AI researchers, WSJ reports.
• The White House snubbed the Big Tech giant at its May AI leadership summit.

At the helm of Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg once invested heavily in the advancement of artificial intelligence, but the tech giant is falling behind competitors in the wake of layoffs and researchers departing the company.

As AI continues to evolve, Meta is trying to find its footing among industry leaders like OpenAI. The task may prove difficult as the company has lost at least a third of its researchers with published AI work to burnout or lack of faith in Meta over the last year, Wall Street Journal reported.

In 2013, Zuckerberg recruited Yann LeCun, an AI "godfather" to lead Meta's efforts to advance in AI, but the White House left the company off of the guest list for its summit of "companies at the forefront of AI innovation."

Today, the company is working to correct previous missteps that shifted focus away from the generative AI despite employees urging Meta to follow the new direction, WSJ reported.

Under LeCun, sources told WSJ, AI researchers found it difficult to push for large language models that make programs like ChatGPT possible. Still, in a June town hall meeting with employees, Zuckerberg praised the company for its strides in AI.

"In the last year, we've seen some really incredible breakthroughs—qualitative breakthroughs—on generative AI," he said.

Meta has also lost many researchers in the last year who said they felt burned out or doubtful of the company's future in AI, according to WSJ. When OpenAI released ChatGPT in November and effectively accelerated the race to innovate in AI, even more employees departed. Another AI competitor, image generator Midjourney, has gained attention within a year of launching thanks to viral fake images of Pope Francis and Donald Trump.

In an internal survey conducted between April 26 and May 10, just 26% of the Meta employees who responded said they felt confident in their company's leadership.

Meta did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Zuckerberg dubbed 2023 the "year of efficiency" in a February earnings release. Meta laid off over 11,000 employees in November, and continued to shut down projects in the months that followed.