OpenAI chief Sam Altman has said that Meta tried to tempt his top AI researchers to switch sides by offering hiring bonuses of $100 million. Yes, you read that right — $100 million. Altman said that up to now, none of his top team have left for Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta.
Altman made the claim on Tuesday in the Uncapped podcast, hosted by his brother, Jack.
“[Meta] started making these giant offers to a lot of people on our team,” the OpenAI boss said. “You know, like $100 million signing bonuses, more than that (in) compensation per year.”
He added: “I’m really happy that, at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take them up on that.”
The crazy offer is a mark of the intense competition that exists in the AI space, with Meta keen to avoid falling behind the likes of OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft when it comes to building out compelling AI products.
Indeed, the tech industry is witnessing an unprecedented battle for AI researchers, with compensation packages reaching levels previously unseen outside of elite finance or sports.
The situation means that AI companies are also having to make some major offers to current employees in order to keep them on board. OpenAI has reportedly offered retention bonuses of several million dollars to persuade its top researchers to stay — on top of their reported $10 million annual pay — with Altman saying in Tuesday’s podcast that he thinks the financial rewards for his staff will grow over time. “I think it’s incentive aligned [at OpenAI], with mission first and economic rewards and everything else following from that,” he said.
In a Reuters report last month, leading OpenAI researcher Noam Brown said that when he was looking at job opportunities two years ago, he was courted by tech industry’s elite players. “Lunch with Google founder Sergey Brin, poker at Sam Altman’s, and a private jet visit from an eager investor,” the report said.
Brown said that even though it wasn’t the best offer financially, he ended up going with OpenAI as the company seemed intent on putting the right level of resources into its efforts.
I remember when ChatGPT first appeared, and the first thing everyone started saying was “Writers are done for.” People started speculating about news
OpenAI’s flagship service ChatGPT remains as popular as ever, with the brand having hit a 500 million active user milestone in recent days amid the St
Google has announced a wide range of upgrades for its Gemini assistant today. To start, the new Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental model now allow
OpenAI has released its latest model, o1-pro, an updated version of its reasoning model o1 — but it’s not going to come cheap.“It uses more compute th
AnthropicThough it may not capture as many headlines as its rivals from Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI do, Anthropic’s Claude is no less powerful than
It’s no secret that Apple’s App Store has its problems, but it generally works pretty well. Yet there’s one thing about it that just feels absolutely
We are a dynamic information platform dedicated to delivering timely, relevant, and reliable content across a broad spectrum of topics. From the latest in technology and business to lifestyle, health, and global affairs, we aim to keep our readers informed and inspired.
Our editorial team is committed to maintaining high standards of accuracy and clarity, ensuring that every article provides value and context in an ever-changing world. We believe in the importance of accessible knowledge and strive to make complex topics understandable for everyone.
Whether you're here to stay updated on current events, explore thought-provoking features, or simply learn something new, our goal is to offer a trustworthy source of information that meets the needs of a diverse and curious audience.