But the position is for working on graphics rendering, a completely unrelated field. Are you supposed to have had two careers at the same time, working eight years in AI while also working all that same time on graphics?
Since Facebook is doing VR, and this position is about VR, I can easily see the potential of using ML to make the most of sketchy/low-quality models and textures people might want to use in worlds. Imagine if you could upload a rough model, describe what you want, and get it made for you.
I mean obviously a lot of people work in that area but the overlap with AI/ML simultaneously seems very small, for 8+ years in one person.
And of course if you're in research then it's hard to tick boxes like "leading consumer-based projects with industry-wide impact" and "mentoring/influencing senior engineers across organizations" and so on.
The number of people working in "those areas," defined narrowly, is much bigger than it was eight years ago. That makes this a big requirement. People who are skilled, deep or enthusiastic enough to make that 8 years experience better than 4 are not likely to just show up, while also ticking the other boxes. Narrowing the pool past a certain point is a different type of problem.
In any case, these aren't to be taken to literally.
It's not like they are asking for more than 8 years of experience in Pytorch.