Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, revealed that Meta Platforms—the parent company of Facebook—has attempted to recruit his team by offering signing bonuses of up to US$100 million. He added that Meta is also proposing even more generous yearly pay in its bid to assemble a leading artificial intelligence workforce.
In a recent episode of the “Uncapped” podcast hosted by Jack Altman—an early-stage investor at Alt Capital and sibling of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman—it was disclosed that Meta has made several efforts to lure away employees from OpenAI. As per Sam Altman, the tech giant has repeatedly approroached members of his team, encouraging them to leave OpenAI and contribute to Meta’s own artificial intelligence projects.
According to the OpenAI chief, despite the highly attractive proposals from Mark Zuckerberg’s company, the recruitment drive fell flat, as OpenAI’s team chose to stay committed and declined to leave.
“They (Meta) started making giant offers to a lot of people on our team,” Altman said on the Uncapped podcast that aired on Tuesday. “You know, like $100 million signing bonuses, more than that (in) compensation per year.” “At least, so far, none of our best people have decided to take them up on that,” Altman said.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken a hands-on approach in building a new “superintelligence” division, reportedly offering substantial payouts to leading AI experts across the sector. Just last week, the tech giant unveiled a US$14.3 billion investment in Scale AI and brought on board the company’s CEO, Alexandr Wang, as part of the initiative.
Fitbit, meanwhile, was also accused by Jawbone of unlawfully recruiting its staff and simultaneously misappropriating confidential business information, leading to a legal battle between the two companies.
