US EditionAI Talent Wars Lead to Superstar Salaries for Top Tech Staff
SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, JUN 30 – OpenAI is offering revised compensation and retention incentives after Meta hired at least eight top researchers in the past week amid a growing AI talent competition.
- On June 27, 2025, Meta hired at least seven researchers from OpenAI to join its new superintelligence team focused on advanced AI development.
- This hiring surge followed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s push to develop superintelligence and involved offers reportedly including $100 million signing bonuses.
- OpenAI responded by giving employees a mandatory week-long break to recharge while leaders recalibrated compensation and sought creative ways to retain talent.
- The lead research executive at OpenAI expressed feeling violated by what he described as an intrusion akin to theft, while CEO Sam Altman cautioned that Meta’s recruitment strategies might result in significant cultural challenges.
- These moves highlight intense AI talent competition and suggest persistent challenges for OpenAI in retaining top researchers amid aggressive recruitment by Meta.
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Meta salaries: See how much AI engineers, researchers, and more at the tech giant get paid
Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California.Liu Guanguan/Getty ImagesThe AI talent wars are intensifying as companies like Meta offer salaries in the mid-six figures.Federal filings reveal Meta's wage ranges for researchers, engineers, and other workers.The highest-paid research engineer at Meta makes up to $440,000 in base salary.Meta may be spending hundreds of millions of dollars to lure top AI talent from rivals. But how much is it paying it…
Sam Altman Slams Meta’s AI Talent Poaching Spree: 'Missionaries Will Beat Mercenaries' - Overpasses For America
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is hitting back at Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recent AI talent poaching spree. In a full-throated response sent to OpenAI researchers Monday evening and obtained by WIRED, Altman made his pitch for why staying at OpenAI is the only answer for those looking to build artificial general intelligence, hinting that the company is evaluating compensation for the entire research organization. He also dismissed Meta’s recruiting ef…
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