- Meta reportedly offered up to $100 million in signing bonuses to OpenAI employees
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says none of their top talent accepted the offers
- Meta restructures HQ layout and hosts AI experts privately
Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, reportedly offered massive signing bonuses—up to $100 million—to lure employees away from rival AI company OpenAI, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“They started making huge offers to a lot of our team,” Altman said on the “Uncapped” podcast, hosted by his brother Jack. “We’re talking about $100 million signing bonuses.”
Despite the lucrative offers, Altman said Meta’s efforts to poach top OpenAI talent have so far been unsuccessful.
“None of our best people have accepted the offers,” he added.
Meta has declined to comment on the claims.
Altman also criticized Meta’s performance in the AI field, suggesting the company’s current efforts haven’t met expectations. “I respect trying new things and being aggressive,” he said. “But while I respect many aspects of Meta, I don’t think innovation is one of their strengths. I believe we understand things they don’t.”
These revelations come amid growing reports that Zuckerberg is personally leading a renewed push to develop artificial general intelligence—or “superintelligent” AI capable of surpassing human performance.
Frustrated with Meta’s progress in AI, Zuckerberg is said to be holding private meetings with AI experts at his homes and has even restructured the company’s Menlo Park HQ to house a new team closer to his office, according to Bloomberg and The New York Times.
Last week, Meta announced a $14.3 billion investment for a 49% stake in Scale AI to support its AI ambitions. As part of the deal, Scale AI’s 28-year-old founder and CEO Alexandr Wang and some of his team will join Meta.
Zuckerberg has increasingly focused on transforming Meta into a leading AI company, though with mixed results—especially in light of OpenAI’s significant advances and multibillion-dollar funding rounds.
