In a dramatic escalation of the AI talent war, Meta has been attempting to lure OpenAI's top engineers with compensation packages that rival those of professional athletes, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Speaking on his brother's 'Uncapped' podcast in mid-June, Altman revealed that Meta has offered some OpenAI staff signing bonuses of $100 million, with even larger annual compensation packages. "I'm really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them up on that," Altman stated, suggesting OpenAI employees believe their company has a better chance of achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI).
However, recent reports indicate Meta has successfully poached at least eight researchers from OpenAI in the past few weeks, prompting a strong reaction from OpenAI's leadership. Chief Research Officer Mark Chen told staff it felt "as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something" and confirmed the company is "recalibrating compensation" and exploring "creative ways to recognize and reward top talent" in response.
Meta's aggressive recruitment drive comes as Zuckerberg establishes a new 'Meta Superintelligence Labs' (MSL) to unify the company's AI efforts. In late June, Zuckerberg announced that MSL would be led by Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of Scale AI, whom Meta brought on as part of a $14.3 billion investment in the data-labeling startup. The company is reportedly seeking to fill about 50 positions for this elite team, with Zuckerberg personally involved in recruitment.
The extraordinary compensation packages reflect the scarcity of specialized AI talent, with estimates suggesting there are only about 2,000 people worldwide capable of pushing the boundaries of large language models and advanced AI research. This talent shortage has transformed the hiring landscape, with Meta reportedly offering some top-tier researchers packages worth up to $450 million over four years.
Altman has criticized Meta's approach, suggesting that focusing primarily on compensation rather than mission and innovation "will lead to very deep cultural problems." He maintains that "missionaries will beat mercenaries" in the long run, emphasizing that OpenAI's culture of innovation has been key to its success in developing cutting-edge AI systems like GPT-4o.