Meta builds Elite AI team to boost Instagram, Facebook engagement
Meta has put together a high-powered AI research team called MRS Research. The aim is to make content recommendations smarter on Instagram and Facebook. Under Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership, it is pretty clear that Meta wants to use more artificial intelligence (AI) to get people to spend more time on their platforms, and, of course, to make ads more effective.
Lately, Meta has been shuffling its teams around to double down on these recommendation systems – the technology behind those endless content feeds on Instagram and Facebook. MRS Research is taking the lead on figuring out better ways to suggest content and keep feeds fresh for every user. The goal is to keep people engaged for a longer period.
The team, which is being led by Yang Song, who left TikTok and joined Meta last November (2025), is in charge of weaving advanced AI tech deeper into Meta’s platforms. Their main focus is not just short-term tweaks, but they are after long-term breakthroughs for smarter recommendation engines and even sharper algorithms.
Basically, these tools work through user behaviour and personalise the content you see, making feeds more relevant for the users.
Leadership and key responsibilities
MRS Research is not just working in isolation. Rather, they are teaming up with Meta’s advertising division to make the targeted ads even better, which further aims at driving up ad performance and revenue. That means that users will get more personalised ads in their feed, which is exactly what Meta wanted.
Talent acquisition and AI expansion at Meta
To build out this new team, Meta has recruited top talent from big names like OpenAI, Amazon and Google.
Some standout hires are AI researchers Xiaolong Wang, Fei Sha, and Lihong Li. This is expected to bring a bigger shakeup inside Meta’s recommendation division. They are pulling all the right people into this one unit to make sure innovation moves quickly.
This must be mentioned: the MRS Research is not the same as Meta’s Superintelligence Labs (MSL). MRS is further focused on recommendations, while MSL works on building new AI models for the near future.
Meta’s bigger AI push and industry concerns
Everything Meta has been doing is aiming towards the larger push into AI across its businesses. They are encouraging their employees to use AI tools and buying up AI startups to stay ahead. Still, the company’s under a microscope — they were just in the news for a case involving teenage addiction to social media. That’s put a spotlight on whether their engagement-focused algorithms go too far.
Even with the criticism, Meta keeps pouring resources into AI. They aren’t backing down from this strategy — personalised content and automation sit right at the heart of their plans going forward.
