AI War 2025: Zuckerberg’s Talent Blitz Marks the Rubicon Moment

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Former Kyrgyz PM Djoomart Otorbaev says the AI war of 2025 is no longer about technology, but dominance—where talent is scarcer than chips and priced like nuclear material.

By S JHA

Mumbai, December 27, 2025 — Former Kyrgyz Republic Prime Minister Djoomart Otorbaev has said that “history will remember 2025 not as another year of technological progress, but as the moment artificial intelligence crossed a psychological Rubicon.”

“This was the year AI stopped being a tool, a product, or even a platform—and became a life-or-death race for dominance,” Otorbaev wrote in his analysis on LinkedIn.

He argued that the AI war is “not between startups but among empires.”

“Tens, then hundreds of billions of dollars were thrown into AI infrastructure. Data centres the size of small cities. Chips worth more than oil fields,” added the geopolitics analyst.

He also stated that “Elon Musk, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI —everyone burned cash as if tomorrow didn’t exist.” “But by mid-year, it became apparent: the real bottleneck wasn’t computing. It was people. Talent. Young minds capable of pushing models beyond incremental gains,” argued Otorbaev, adding: “And that’s where the race turned brutal.”

He stated that “no one hunted talent more aggressively than Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook.” “What began as ambition quickly turned into obsession. He wasn’t buying startups anymore—he was buying humans. Entire companies were acquired not for products, but for founders,” added Otorbaev.

He gave the most striking example of Alexander Wang. “In June, Meta paid $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in Scale AI. Officially, it was an investment. In reality, it was $14 billion for one person,” he added.

Wang, wrote Otorbaev, is not a household name, but he may be the most critical man in modern AI. “He founded Scale AI at 19 after dropping out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. By 24, Wang was the youngest self-made billionaire in the world,” he added.

He stated that Wang at 28 was appointed head of Meta’s newly renamed Superintelligence Lab, charged with building “personal superintelligence”.

“Zuckerberg’s strategy was simple and ruthless. Step one: drain competitors. Over the summer, Meta shortlisted hundreds of top researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Apple, and Microsoft,” he added.

Offers included nine-figure compensation packages, $100 million signing bonuses, and perks that bordered on parody, wrote the analyst.

“Step two: burn money faster than doubt can form. Meta’s AI spending is expected to hit $70 billion this year, with investors bracing for $100 billion next,” added Otorbaev.

And yet, he noted, for all this aggression, results remain elusive. “Llama 4x, released in April, was supposed to be Meta’s comeback. Instead, it underperformed against OpenAI and Google in reasoning and coding,” he argued.

This was the year AI stopped rewarding patience, he wrote, adding: “The year caution became a liability. The year talent was priced like nuclear material.”

“Whether Zuckerberg wins or loses is still unclear. But one thing is certain: no one in this race is allowed to slow down,” he added.