In a bold move amid mass layoffs at Meta Platforms, Smallest AI, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup founded by Indian-origin entrepreneur Sudarshan Kamath, has extended an open invitation to the 600 recently laid-off Meta AI employees. The company is offering lucrative roles with salaries ranging from $200,000 to $600,000, alongside flexible equity options.
Startup’s offer to Meta’s AI talent
Kamath announced the hiring initiative on X (formerly Twitter), inviting engineers and researchers specialising in speech evaluation, speech generation, and full-duplex speech-to-speech systems to apply. “Looking for – experience with speech evals, speech generation, full duplex speech to speech. Must be fkin smart and hungry,” Kamath wrote, underscoring his company’s demand for top-tier talent.
The hiring drive comes shortly after Meta’s restructuring within its AI division, which saw around 600 employees lose their jobs across teams, including the Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) group, AI product divisions, and infrastructure departments.
Meta’s ongoing AI reshuffle
Meta’s layoffs are part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ongoing “year of efficiency”, aimed at trimming non-core divisions and redirecting resources toward scalable generative AI projects. While the FAIR unit and several support teams have been affected, Meta’s elite TBD Lab, which was built by aggressively recruiting talent from OpenAI, Apple, and Google, remains untouched.
According to internal communications, some affected employees may be redeployed within other Meta teams, while others will receive at least 16 weeks of severance pay extending through November 21.
Smallest AI’s strategic move
Industry analysts see Kamath’s hiring announcement as a strategic masterstroke, aligning with the growing competition for AI talent between Big Tech and nimble startups. By targeting recently laid-off Meta engineers, Smallest AI gains access to some of the world’s most advanced AI researchers, particularly those with deep learning and speech technology experience.
Kamath, who previously worked at multiple Silicon Valley AI firms before founding Smallest AI, aims to position his company as a leader in conversational and speech-based artificial intelligence.
“Our focus is to build next-generation full-duplex voice systems that can converse as naturally as humans,” Kamath said in an earlier interview. “We need people who have worked on the world’s most complex AI systems — and Meta’s AI division is full of such minds.”
Rising AI talent wars
The move underscores a larger talent shift in Silicon Valley, where layoffs at tech giants such as Meta, Google, and Amazon have created opportunities for emerging AI startups to onboard top talent. With the global AI market projected to cross $1.3 trillion by 2030, smaller firms like Smallest AI are rapidly scaling to capture niche innovation segments, particularly in speech AI and generative intelligence.
Industry observers note that the competition for skilled engineers is expected to intensify as major firms like OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and Mistral AI continue to expand aggressively.
Conclusion
Smallest AI’s open call to Meta’s former employees signals a new phase in Silicon Valley’s AI employment landscape, where agile startups with bold ambitions and strong funding are luring top-tier talent away from corporate giants. For many affected Meta engineers, the offer represents not just a lucrative opportunity but a chance to help shape the next generation of speech-driven AI systems.