TLDR
- Sam Altman revealed Meta offered OpenAI employees signing bonuses up to $100 million to poach talent
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is personally assembling a top AI team for the company’s “superintelligence” lab
- Meta recently acquired 49% of Scale AI for $14.3 billion, with founder Alexandr Wang joining Meta
- OpenAI’s CEO claims none of their best employees have accepted Meta’s recruitment offers
- Meta has been hiring top AI talent including researchers from Google’s DeepMind division
Meta Platforms has offered OpenAI employees signing bonuses as high as $100 million in aggressive recruitment efforts.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman disclosed these compensation packages during an appearance on the “Uncapped” podcast.
Altman stated that Meta attempted to hire “a lot of people” from his company. However, he claimed that “so far none of our best people have decided to take them up on that.”
The OpenAI chief executive said Meta views his company as their biggest competitor. He noted that Meta’s current AI efforts have not performed as well as the company hoped.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is personally leading efforts to build a top artificial intelligence team. The focus centers on Meta’s “superintelligence” AI lab development.
The recruitment drive comes after Meta delayed its latest flagship AI model release. The Wall Street Journal reported the delay stemmed from concerns about the model’s capabilities.
Meta’s Billion-Dollar AI Investments
Sources previously told CNBC that Zuckerberg has grown frustrated with Meta’s AI position. The CEO is reportedly willing to invest billions in securing top talent.
Last week, Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang announced his departure to join Meta. The move was part of a $14.3 billion deal giving Meta a 49% stake in the AI startup.
Wang will lead a research lab pursuing “superintelligence” technology. This refers to AI systems that surpass human intelligence capabilities.
Several Scale AI employees will also join Meta as part of the agreement. The acquisition represents one of the largest AI talent acquisitions in recent months.
Meta has also recruited Jack Rae from Google’s DeepMind research laboratory. Bloomberg reported that Zuckerberg was directly involved in these recruitment efforts.
OpenAI’s Response to Recruitment Tactics
Altman criticized Meta’s strategy of offering large upfront compensation packages. He argued this approach detracts from actual work and fails to build winning culture.
The OpenAI CEO suggested that copying competitors rarely succeeds in technology. He emphasized the importance of building innovation-focused company culture.
Altman noted that many companies are attempting to replicate OpenAI’s approach. He warned this strategy typically leads companies to where competitors already were.
However, large acquisitions are common in the AI industry. OpenAI recently acquired Jony Ive’s AI devices startup through a $6.4 billion all-equity deal.
Some analysts dispute claims that Meta is falling behind in AI development. Daniel Newman from Futurum Group highlighted Meta’s contributions to open-source AI.
Newman pointed out that Meta built infrastructure for open-source AI development. Many current AI applications are built on Meta’s Llama language models.
Meta’s Llama series uses open-source characteristics allowing third-party development. This approach has enabled numerous applications to build on Meta’s technology foundation.
