Sam Altman claims Meta offered OpenAI staff $100M signing bonuses

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says Meta has offered some of his employees signing bonuses of up to $100 million in a bid to lure them away.

Altman said that Meta had tried to recruit several key staff members from OpenAI, but none had accepted the offers. He noted that the company had targeted many individuals, but so far, none of their top talent had taken the bait.

He admitted that Meta is aggressively courting top talent from OpenAI, probably because of OpenAI’s paramount role in the AI domain. Its ChatGPT product and research breakthroughs have positioned the company at the heart of the global AI race.

Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Altman’s comments. Yet, insiders throughout the tech world admit that the company’s talent poaching tactics are only getting more intense.

Zuckerberg heads personal AI hiring blitz

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, is said to be playing an active role in the talent battle, overseeing attempts to hire top researchers and engineers for Meta’s new “superintelligence” division. This new team is a part of Meta’s larger effort to win the general-purpose AI race and to be a direct competitor to companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind.

One of Meta’s most aggressive steps came last week when it said it would invest $14.3 billion in Scale AI, which provides data labeling and training services for machine learning. Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang joined Meta’s AI team as part of the investment in a move that saw a considerable overlap of resources and talent.

Meta has also hired leaders from other AI research centers. One of the most high-profile hires is Jack Rae, previously a principal researcher at Google DeepMind. According to Bloomberg, Rae’s move indicates Meta’s commitment to attracting top AI executives, even if it has to outspend rivals.

According to Altman, Meta’s aggressive approach is driven by its competitive rivalry with OpenAI. He mentioned that he had heard Meta regards OpenAI as its biggest competitor.

OpenAI’s culture beats the billion-dollar bait, Altman says

Despite Meta’s exceptionally high offers, Altman expressed confidence that OpenAI could retain its core team. He questioned whether money alone was enough to distract people from meaningful work. He acknowledged that he respected many aspects of Meta but did not believe the company excelled at innovation.

Altman said that OpenAI’s mission-driven culture plays a major role in why employees choose to stay, even when presented with large financial offers. He added that there is a cultural risk in turning AI jobs into roles driven purely by compensation, emphasizing that this is not how true innovation happens.

Altman also veiled a dig at Meta’s approach, implying that OpenAI can access insights that Meta cannot. He underscored the company’s commitment to open research, responsible development, and thoughtful scaling of AI technologies.

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