Frontier AI researcher moves since 2025

Meta swept up a wave of OpenAI researchers in mid-2025 — a year later the traffic turned toward Anthropic and back to OpenAI

33 direct, publicly reported moves by 31 researchers between five frontier labs — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta and Thinking Machines Lab — from January 2025 through 27 August 2026.

This is a sourced, conservative public-record list, not a claim to capture undisclosed personnel changes. “Month” is the joining month when reported, otherwise the public-announcement month.

Fill = lab joined · thin edge stripe = lab left

Each block is one move, stacked on the month it happened. Hover a name for the full route, role and source; a researcher who moved twice lights up in both places.

What the timeline cannot say alone

All 33 moves

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Month	Researcher	Left	Joined	Research context	Source

Sourced, conservative public-record list of direct researcher moves between frontier labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta, Thinking Machines Lab): 33 moves by 31 distinct researchers, January 2025 through the scan date of 27 August 2026. Months are YYYY-MM, taken as the joining month when reported and otherwise the public-announcement month. Excluded for scope: nontechnical executives, rejected offers, moves without a known destination, and moves to or from organizations outside the frontier-lab definition; one extraction with an incorrect immediate prior employer was dropped. Duplicate reports of the same move were merged and conflicting dates reconciled to the better-sourced month. Compensation figures claimed in some sources are not repeated here.