In a bid to ramp up its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, Meta has reportedly offered $100 million signing bonuses to OpenAI employees, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The tech giant's efforts to recruit top engineers come at a time when competition for AI talent has reached a feverish pitch, with superstar researchers being courted like professional athletes.
Altman, who spoke on the Uncapped podcast hosted by his brother on Tuesday, said that Meta has made "giant offers" to many of his team members. "You know, like $100 million signing bonuses, more than that in compensation per year," he said. However, so far, none of OpenAI's best employees have decided to take up the offer.
Meta's efforts to hire top AI talent are not surprising, given that the Facebook owner is working on building its superintelligence unit to catch up with competitors. The company has suffered from staff departures and has postponed the launches of new open-source AI models that could rival competitors like Google, China's DeepSeek, and OpenAI itself.
Meta's recent investment of $14.3 billion in data-labeling startup Scale AI and the hiring of its top boss, Alexandr Wang, to lead its new superintelligence team, further highlights the company's commitment to AI development. However, it remains to be seen whether these efforts will be enough to help Meta regain its position as a leader in open-source AI models.
While Meta has not immediately responded to a request for comment outside regular business hours, Altman's comments suggest that Meta views OpenAI as its biggest competitor in the AI space. The AI talent war is heating up, with tech giants like Meta offering massive bonuses and packages to lure top engineers. The competition for AI talent is likely to continue as superstar researchers are seen as crucial for the success of companies in the field.
