Author HubMatthias Bastian

Meta's top AI researcher, Yann LeCun, is reportedly at odds with the company over new publication guidelines for its FAIR research division. According to six people familiar with the matter, FAIR projects now need stricter internal review before release - a shift some employees say limits their scientific freedom. LeCun even considered stepping down in September, The Information reports, partly in response to Shengjia Zhao being named chief scientist for Meta's superintelligence labs.

The dispute comes as Meta reshapes its AI organization. LeCun, who has openly rejected the current large language model (LLM) paradigm, is pushing for new directions in AI. He has also positioned himself against Donald Trump, while CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been more willing to align with the Trump administration.

Meta is set to start mining users' conversations with its chatbot to target ads and content across all Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. Beginning December 16, 2025, anything users say to Meta AI—by text or voice—will feed into the company's ad and content algorithms. If someone discusses hiking with the AI, for instance, they can expect to see more hiking-related ads, posts, and groups. Meta says it will exclude sensitive subjects like religion, health, and political views from this data collection.

Users can try to limit what shows up in their feeds using settings like "Ads Preferences," but these changes only apply if accounts are linked in the Accounts Center. Meta plans to alert affected users ahead of time by notification and email. The policy will take effect in most regions.