Facebook executive Mike Schroepfer to step down as company’s CTO

Facebook's Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer on Wednesday said that he was stepping down from the role of company's chief technology officer. Schroepfer took to Twitter to make the announcement. 

"After 13 years at FB, I’ve decided to step down as CTO and pass the baton to Andrew Bosworth at some point in 2022. I will stay on as long as it takes to ensure a successful leadership transition. My new role as Senior Fellow will enable me to stay deeply connected to the company, working on key initiatives including recruiting and developing technical talent and fostering our AI investments in critical technologies like @PyTorch. It has been a privilege to lead our technology teams during a time of incredible growth & advancement. I am proud of what the team has achieved, from unleashing the benefits of AI & bringing VR to life to connecting more people around the world through technology. I am still incredibly optimistic about the potential for AI and AR/VR to improve the lives of people every day. I am honored to be able to continue to support Facebook’s exciting future in my role as Senior Fellow," Schroepfer wrote. 

Andrew Bosworth will take over the role in 2022. Schroepfer has spent 13 years at Facebook and use to look after the social network’s work in artificial intelligence, virtual reality and the blockchain. Schroepfer will continue to advise the company in a new part-time “senior fellow” role, helping with recruiting technical talent and developing the company’s artificial intelligence initiatives.

"As our next CTO, Boz will continue leading Facebook Reality Labs and overseeing our work in augmented reality, virtual reality and more, and as part of this transition a few other groups will join Boz's team as well," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a message to employees that was posted on Facebook's blog. 
"This is all foundational to our broader efforts helping to build the metaverse, and I'm excited about the future of this work under Boz's leadership," he said. 

2/ My new role as Senior Fellow will enable me to stay deeply connected to the company, working on key initiatives including recruiting and developing technical talent and fostering our AI investments in critical technologies like @PyTorch

— Mike Schroepfer (@schrep) September 22, 2021

4/ I am still incredibly optimistic about the potential for AI and AR/VR to improve the lives of people every day. I am honored to be able to continue to support Facebook’s exciting future in my role as Senior Fellow.

— Mike Schroepfer (@schrep) September 22, 2021