Meta, the parent company of Facebook, allegedly tried to poach OpenAI employees with lucrative offers, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. In a recent podcast, Altman revealed that Meta offered signing bonuses of up to $100 million, with even larger annual compensation packages, in an attempt to assemble a top artificial intelligence workforce.
Altman mentioned that despite these attractive proposals, none of OpenAI's top talent has accepted Meta's offers, suggesting that his team is committed to their work. Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been actively recruiting for a new "superintelligence" division, offering substantial payouts to leading AI experts.
This move highlights the intensifying battle for AI talent, with top engineers being lured with unprecedented offers. Meta's aggressive recruitment strategy comes as it seeks to expand its AI capabilities, including a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI and the appointment of Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang to lead its new superintelligence team.
Altman believes that Meta views OpenAI as a significant competitor in the AI space and notes that simply copying another company's approach rarely leads to success. Instead, building a culture of innovation is crucial for long-term success.
