Meta's AI Talent Acquisition Strategy: Debunking the $100 Million Bonus Myth

Meta's AI Talent War Had Reports of $100 Million Bonuses. Here's Why it Matters

Reports suggest that Meta was baiting its recruiting hook with bonuses in the region of $100 million (though later reports suggested merely millions-of-dollars salaries were involved.) For contrast, typical engineer's salaries at OpenAI, now the market leading AI firm, are in the $100,000 to $200,000 region, Glassdoor reports. OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman recently spoke up about the raids on his company, and in a memo to staff he dismissed Meta's recruiting efforts, noting it was "acting in a way that feels somewhat distasteful; I assume things will get even crazier in the future." When Zuckerberg announced plans for his new superintelligence unit to staff, he revealed that Meta had lured many former OpenAI staff to join its efforts, according to Wired. In his own staff memo, Altman admitted Meta has "gotten a few great people for sure," but he made a point of saying they couldn't poach their top targets, and "had to go quite far down their list; they have been trying to recruit people for a super long time, and I've lost track of how many people from here they've tried to get to be their Chief Scientist."

Former OpenAI Researcher Who Got Lured In By Meta's Lucrative Offer Spills The Beans; He Did Not Receive The $100 Million Signing Bonus That Was Offered By The Social Media Giant

Meta has been somewhat successful in poaching OpenAI researchers to fuel its artificial intelligence conquest, with the company's primary weapon of choice being that attractive signing bonus of $100 million. To be fair, one would need to possess a resolve of steel to reject that offer, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stating in an interview that the firm's best people have yet to leave. However, a former researcher who is now working at Meta because of the lucrative offer reveals the cold truth; no $100 million signing bonus was offered to him. In November, Lucas Beyer and two of his colleagues, Alexander Kolesnikov and Xiaohua Zhai, joined OpenAI to set up the company's Zurich office. On Thursday, Business Insider reports that Beyer and his two colleagues had left to join Meta, with the news mentioned on X. Before joining OpenAI, the talented trio worked as research scientists at Google DeepMind. Beyer admitted on the micro-blogging website that no $100 million signing bonuses were handed to him, Kolesnikov, or Zhai, with the claims being lies. Comments on the thread were filled with sympathizers, while others believed that Beyer got what he deserved for leaving a company that established his career, while also compensating him financially. As for Meta, it is accelerating its efforts while injecting a whopping $15 billion in data-labeling firm Scale AI, with the latter's founder and CEO, Alexandr Wang, expected to leave his current position to join Meta as they combine forces to work on superintelligence. Hearing the updates from Beyer likely resulted in current OpenAI researchers breathing a sign of relief that none of them accepted the offer, despite Meta's persistent efforts to poach talent on multiple occasions. Sam Altman even stated on the 'Uncapped with Jack Altman' that Meta's aggressive hiring spree where it leverages its massive cash pile to lure employees from other AI firms will not create a 'great culture.' Altman also says that while he respects Meta as a company, he does not believe that it is great at innovation. The social media giant has yet to comment on Beyer's claims concerning the $100 million signing bonus. Given that the former OpenAI researcher has not exactly been forthcoming with sufficient information on X, we have to wait for a concrete reply to learn more about why Meta made such claims but decided to backtrack on its lucrative offer.