Meta's Billion-Dollar AI Talent Hunt: The High-Stakes Race for Superintelligence

Inside AI's billion-dollar job offer lottery

The big picture: You'll never get a billion-dollar job offer from Mark Zuckerberg if you're not a top AI expert. And even if you are, you're still not getting one unless you're among the tiny handful of researchers who've built the massive models at AI's frontier edge. * Big Tech's bottomless checkbook is open for a select few because AI's leaders see themselves in a race to superintelligence. Whoever wins will dominate the world, they believe -- so when it comes to hiring winning players, they just keep adding more zeros. Driving the news: Zuckerberg's epic efforts to lure talent from AI startups and rivals like Apple have involved eye-popping compensation packages. * The Meta CEO offered one prospect, Andrew Tulloch, a billion-dollar package "worth as much as $1.5 billion over at least six years," the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. * Tulloch's offer was part of a larger raid to hire key players from Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab, which is full of exiles from OpenAI. None have taken the bait. * Zuckerberg has had more success poaching leading researchers directly from OpenAI and from Apple's foundation models team, which has faltered in efforts to catch up with rivals. How it works: No one, not even Zuckerberg, is writing checks to new hires for a billion in cash. * Meta's offers to elite researchers -- more typically in the tens of millions than in the billion-dollar stratosphere, per the New York Times -- are likely to come with generous salaries. But the bulk of the money involves a complex payout of stock options over time. * The actual value depends on how the company's stock price fares. Between the lines: The twist with stock options is that you want to receive them when the company's stock is hurting, so you can profit from a future rise. * Meta's stock has been on a roll -- up about 28% year to date and hitting an all-time high last week. * Paradoxically, that's bad for a new recruit: It means that today's options could be worthless if the stock falls below the price at the time of hire, leaving the options "underwater." Zoom out: While no one is likely to turn down a Zuckerberg-style offer without giving it a careful look, many top researchers are driven less by dollars than by a sense of mission and a yearning to be the first to solve a hard problem. * OpenAI CEO Sam Altman alluded to this dynamic in an internal memo, vowing that "missionaries will beat mercenaries." * "Meta has gotten a few great people for sure, but on the whole, it is hard to overstate how much they didn't get their top people and had to go quite far down their list." Altman wrote, per Wired. He predicted "very deep cultural problems" at Meta stemming from its recruiting blitz and fat contracts. The best researchers are also attracted by the opportunity to pursue their interests and hunches without distraction from an employer's more humdrum needs around products and profits. * OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever launched his Safe Superintelligence startup last year with the declaration that "our singular focus means no distraction by management overhead or product cycles" and a promise that researchers would be "insulated from short-term commercial pressures." * Sutskever reportedly turned down a Zuckerberg offer. The other side: Anyone working on advanced AI today needs access to ever more powerful server clusters powered by ever more expensive chips. * The money for all those data centers has to come from somewhere, and the investors who are ponying up now will eventually demand a profitable return. Flashback: This isn't AI's first talent war, and it won't be the last. * A decade ago, the first industry frenzy over the advent of machine learning sparked another recruiting fight. * The tech industry saw similar hiring sprees in the 1990s, when internet networking specialists could write their own tickets, and again in the 2000s, when experts in wireless and phone technologies were in demand. Limited supply is always the key driver of tech's talent wars. * You can't get an AI PhD overnight, and there are only so many in the world right now. * There are even fewer from elite universities, and even fewer who have actually built the most advanced models. Anywhere below this stratosphere, however, the tech job market looks very different. * Software veterans are wondering how long their experience will be valuable in an AI-dominated industry, while recent graduates fear entry-level jobs are disappearing. The bottom line: For AI makers who plan to spend hundreds of billions on infrastructure to support "superintelligence," spending a few more billion for a handful of human brains looks perfectly reasonable.

AI researcher 'turns down $1bn pay offer from Mark Zuckerberg'

A tech worker has reportedly turned down a $1bn (£750m) pay deal to join Mark Zuckerberg's artificial intelligence (AI) unit amid an escalating war for talent in Silicon Valley. Mr Zuckerberg's Meta reportedly offered several researchers who work at Thinking Machines, a San Francisco-based AI start-up, packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars to join the social media giant. One of those packages would have been worth as much as $1bn over several years, according to a report from Wired, while some researchers were also offered between $200m and $500m over a four-year period. Most deals included an award worth $50m to $100m in the first year. So far, no staff at the start-up have taken up an offer from Meta. Last month, Thinking Machines raised $2bn at a $12bn valuation, despite having no product. A spokesman for Meta disputed the claims, although confirmed it had made a "handful" of offers to staff at Thinking Machines. "We made offers only to a handful of people at Thinking Machines and while there was one sizeable offer, the details are off," the spokesman said. Thinking Machines was founded by 36-year-old Mira Murati, a former OpenAI executive who has become one of the powerful women in tech since launching the company.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says his employees are refusing Zuckerberg's $100 million payout -- and he's not even matching salaries to keep them

Tech companies like Meta and Google have waged an all-out talent war in the fight to build the next revolutionary AI -- but Anthropic's stars aren't being won over by the promise of $100 million pay packages. "Relative to other companies, a lot fewer people from Anthropic have been caught by these. And it's not for lack of trying," Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently revealed on the Big Technology Podcast. "I've talked to plenty of people who got these offers at Anthropic and who just turned them down. Who wouldn't even talk to Mark Zuckerberg." Meta's been on a tear to dominate AI -- and if it can't grow the talent internally, its CEO Zuckerberg has no qualms about buying it instead. In June, reports revealed that he's been poaching staff at competitor companies (including OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic) with $100 million signing bonuses, in an effort to beef up his "superintelligence" AI lab. Some have taken up his envy-inducing offer, including at least seven staffers from OpenAI, but Amodei insisted that most of his employees haven't taken the bait -- and he's not throwing money at staff to keep them. Employers may be tempted to fight fire with fire by raising their AI stars' salaries or recruiting others in return -- but Anthropic thinks it would hurt its company culture. "We are not willing to compromise our compensation principles, our principles of fairness, to respond individually to these offers," Amodei said. "The way things work at Anthropic is there's a series of levels. One candidate comes in, they get assigned a level, and we don't negotiate that level, because we think it's unfair. We want to have a systematic way." Amodei not only thinks that it's unfair to raise salaries to have his workers stick around, but that it could actually backfire on his billion-dollar company's mission. In actuality, staying true to his compensation practices amid the poaching chaos has been a win for Anthropic's culture. "I think actually this was a unifying moment for the company where we didn't give in. We refused to compromise our principles, because we had the confidence that people are Anthropic because they truly believe in the mission," Amodei continued. "The only way you can really be hurt by this is if you allow it to destroy the culture of your company by panicking, by treating people unfairly, in an attempt to defend the company." Zuckerberg's aggressive poaching strategy has ruffled some feathers in the AI world. Being scooped up with a $100 million pay package is a dream for most, but the Anthropic CEO has called out the practice for being fundamentally unfair. "If Mark Zuckerberg throws a dart at a dart board and hits your name, that doesn't mean that you should be paid 10 times more than the guy next to you who's just as skilled, who's just as talented," Amodei said on the podcast. Plus, Amodei thinks the hiring strategy is flat-out counterproductive to what Meta wants to get done. The CEO is proud of his staffers for not giving in to the $100 million offer -- and that same loyalty isn't something that can be bought. And other AI talent seem to want in on Amodei's culture; engineers at OpenAI were eight times more likely to leave the company for Anthropic. The company also has an 80% retention rate for employees hired over the last two years, compared to 78% at Google DeepMind, and 67% at OpenAI. Ironically, Meta is trailing behind at 64%. Having employees who can do revolutionary work is one thing, but having a culture that makes them want to stay is another. By poaching others, Amodei doubts Meta is recruiting the best fits for its mission. "I think that what they are doing is trying to buy something that cannot be bought: and that is alignment with the mission. I think there are selection effects here," he said. "Are they getting the people who are most enthusiastic, who are most mission aligned, who are most excited?" Other tech leaders, including OpenAI's Sam Altman, have echoed Amodei's criticism. Altman said that while Meta has managed to poach some staffers, "so far none of our best people have decided to take them up on that." Even though Zuckerberg has snatched some of his AI workers, Altman is doubtful that his competitor will be able to replicate the same success of OpenAI. "I think that there's a lot of people, and Meta will be a new one, that are saying 'We're just going to try to copy OpenAI,'" Altman said on the Uncapped podcast last month. "That basically never works. You're always going to where your competitor was, and you don't build up a culture of learning what it's like to innovate."

AI Researcher Declines $1 Billion Offer From Mark Zuckerberg

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is absolutely tripping over himself to attract top AI talent to fill the ranks of his recently announced Superintelligence Labs -- and he's willing to go to obscene lengths to make it happen. As Wired reports, more than a dozen people at Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, were approached by Meta with ludicrous job offers. One individual was even offered more than $1 billion, paid out over several years, a source told Wired -- a staggering amount of money, needless to say. But despite the mind-shattering amount of money on the table, not a single person at TML has taken the offer, hinting at some glaring brand issues Zuckerberg could be dealing with. Ouch! Meta communications director Andy Stone disputed the exact figures to Wired, but confirmed offers were made. The reporting suggests we've truly hit peak AI hype, as hundreds of billions of dollars are being poured into the tech despite little in the way of ROI in sight. The news comes as an increasingly desperate Zuckerberg has been offering enormous sign-on bonuses to flesh out his Superintelligence Labs, as part of a broader bid to stay relevant in the ongoing race currently being led by Meta's competitors, including OpenAI and Google. Earlier this year, Zuckerberg poached Ruoming Pang, the former head of Apple's fumbling "Apple Intelligence" software, as well as 28-year-old Scale AI cofounder Alexandr Wang, to lead the lab. "We've been following your work on advancing technology and the benefits of AI for everyone over the years," reads a message Zuckerberg previously sent to a potential recruit, as quoted by Wired. "We're making some important investments across research, products and our infrastructure in order to build the most valuable AI products and services for people." Meta has struggled to keep up with the competition, stumbling with the rollout of its latest Llama 4 large language model. Earlier this year, the company became embroiled in controversy after being accused of fudging the AI model's benchmark results. That general aura could have to do with why the TML staffers didn't take Meta up on its more-than-generous offers. For one, sources told Wired that they're not excited about Wang's leadership style, raising concerns over his "relative lack of experience." The Murati-led startup also raised the largest funding round in history, ballooning to a valuation of $12 billion in just a single year. In other words, they have plenty of money to throw at talent retention. As the AI hype continues to balloon to epic proportions, Zuckerberg is spending billions of dollars on AI talent to realize his hazy goal of creating what he calls "personal superintelligence." It's an enormous bet, as investors and economists are becoming increasingly wary of a dot-com-style bubble in the AI space, where the tech is exciting-yet-imperfect, and a sustainable business model remains elusive. If anything, the latest news suggests AI researchers are in the driver's seat -- and Zuckerberg's Meta is clearly not making the list as they continue to collect cushy job offers that could make them wildly wealthy overnight.

AI experts are brokering $388m pay packages. Just like sports stars

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. In the last few months, Matt Deitke got a phone call from Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive. Zuckerberg wanted Deitke, a 24-year-old artificial intelligence researcher who had recently helped found a startup, to join Meta's research effort dedicated to "superintelligence," a technology that could hypothetically exceed the human brain. The company promised him around $US125 million ($194 million) in stock and cash over four years if he came aboard.

'We Don't Negotiate': Why Anthropic CEO Is Refusing to Match Meta's Massive 9-Figure Pay Offers

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei explained his reasoning on an episode of the "Big Technology Podcast," released earlier this week. Amodei said that he recently sent a Slack message to all Anthropic staff informing them that the company was not willing to "compromise our compensation principles" or its "principles of fairness" when individual employees receive outside offers. He said that Meta's efforts to poach staff were a "unifying moment" for the company, citing his decision not to match offers due to potential unfairness for other staff members. Related: AI Is Dramatically Decreasing Entry-Level Hiring at Big Tech Companies, According to a New Analysis Amodei also acknowledged on the podcast that fewer Anthropic employees had been captured by Meta's compensation offers when compared to other companies, though "not for lack of trying." Some Anthropic staff "wouldn't even talk" to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, according to Amodei. Meta is reportedly offering more than $200 million in compensation to one AI researcher on the superintelligence team who worked at Apple. The tech giant did manage to poach Anthropic software engineer Joel Pobar, as of a June 30 memo. "If Mark Zuckerberg throws a dart at a dartboard and it hits your name, that doesn't mean that you should be paid 10 times more than the guy next to you who's just as skilled, just as talented," Amodei said on the podcast. Anthropic's compensation is tied to a level-based system. Amodei explained on the podcast that when Anthropic staff join the company, they are classified into one of many different levels, which corresponds to their compensation. "We don't negotiate that level because we think it's unfair," Amodei said. "We want to have a systematic way." Related: How Much Does It Cost to Develop and Train AI? Here's the Current Price, According to Anthropic's CEO. Amodei said that Anthropic's mission of safely creating reliable, cutting-edge AI systems inspired many employees to stay, and asserted that Zuckerberg was "trying to buy something that can't be bought," which is alignment with a company's mission. Zuckerberg, meanwhile, recently outlined his mission with his superintelligence team, a group working on creating AI that surpasses human intelligence. In a blog post on Meta's website, published on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said that Meta's goal was to bring superintelligence to every individual and allow people to reap the creative, economic and personal benefits of the technology. He contrasted the effort with the intentions of "others in the industry" who want to use AI to automate the workforce first before giving it to individuals. Meta's mission is to empower individuals with AI, Zuckerberg wrote.

Poaching war: Staff at Mira Murati's AI startup reject Meta's advances - The Economic Times

Over a dozen staff at Mira Murati's artificial intelligence (AI) startup, Thinking Machines Lab (TML), have been approached or offered jobs by Meta, according to a report by Wired. As per the report, despite the generous offers, none of the 50 people on Murati's team have accepted. One source told Wired that one of those offers was worth more than $1 billion over several years, while others ranged from $200 million to $500 million across four years. In the first year alone, some were guaranteed between $50 million and $100 million. Meta's response Meta has pushed back on some of these claims. "We made offers only to a handful of people at TML and while there was one sizable offer, the details are off," Meta communications director Andy Stone said in a statement to Wired. "At the end of the day, this all begs the question: who is spinning this narrative and why." While Meta may have missed the mark with this one, it has already recruited a host of leading experts from major firms such as OpenAI, Google, Apple, and others. This development comes shortly after Thinking Machines Lab raised $2 billion in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, which valued the company at $12 billion. The funding is remarkable given that the company only launched in February and has no revenue or products yet. It underlines Murati's strong influence in a sector where competition for top AI executives is fierce.

Can you believe this? Zuckerberg offered $1 billion pay package to an AI researcher - what happened next was shocking

Meta, under the leadership of Mark Zuckerberg, has launched an aggressive push to recruit AI talent, with a particular focus on researchers from Mira Murati's San Francisco-based startup, Thinking Machines. In a stunning revelation that reflects the escalating talent war in the artificial intelligence industry, Mira Murati, founder of Thinking Machines Lab, has disclosed that her entire 50-member team unanimously rejected lucrative job offers from Meta, including one jaw-dropping package worth $1 billion. The development throws light on the increasing lengths to which tech behemoths are willing to go in their pursuit of top AI minds. As per a report by Wired, Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta has been on a relentless hunt to hire AI experts, targeting researchers at Murati's San Francisco-based AI start-up, Thinking Machines. The social media conglomerate, which recently consolidated its AI research efforts under Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), reportedly made offers ranging from $200 million to $1 billion, with substantial portions tied to stock options and multi-year vesting schedules, as per a report by The Telegraph. Mira Murati, former Chief Technology Officer at OpenAI and now among the most influential figures in the AI sector, confirmed that despite the extraordinary compensation, not a single member of her company accepted Meta's overtures. "So far at Thinking Machines Lab, not a single person has taken the offer," Murati told Wired, as mentioned in a report by The Telegraph. While Murati's disclosure made headlines, Meta's spokesperson Andy Stone pushed back against the figures reported. In a statement to The Telegraph, Stone acknowledged that Meta had extended offers to a few individuals at Thinking Machines, including one "sizeable" proposal. However, he maintained that the broader monetary claims were "off" and questioned the motives behind the leak, stating, "This all begs the question, who is spinning this narrative and why?" Despite the contention, industry observers note that Meta's ongoing hiring spree reflects its commitment to regaining AI dominance after internal frustration over slow progress. The company has made several high-profile poaching attempts in recent months, including personalized WhatsApp messages from Zuckerberg himself to leading researchers. The allure of Thinking Machines Lab is evident in its rising valuation. Despite having no consumer-facing product yet, the startup recently secured $2 billion in new funding, pushing its valuation to $12 billion. Murati revealed that the company plans to unveil its first product within the next few months, with open-source components designed to foster collaboration within the AI community. This rapid valuation growth, coupled with an elite team, makes Thinking Machines a hotbed of talent, one that Meta and other rivals are eager to tap. However, Murati's announcement that none of her researchers were tempted by Meta's riches further cements the startup's internal cohesion and mission-oriented culture. Meta's recent establishment of its Superintelligence Labs signals its intensified focus on long-term AI innovation. With Alexandr Wang, founder of Scale AI, and Nat Friedman, former GitHub CEO, now leading the lab, Zuckerberg has realigned Meta's AI strategy to accelerate development of advanced AI tools. This shift comes amid fierce competition from the likes of OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and Apple. Notably, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also confirmed that his employees had received nine-figure offers from Meta in recent weeks. The unprecedented pay packages reflect the strategic importance of AI leadership for future growth and geopolitical influence, as per the report by The Telegraph. While the news has captivated the tech world, questions persist about whether Murati's move is entirely altruistic or part of a broader brand positioning strategy. With the AI industry under scrutiny for its ethical practices and monopolistic ambitions, Murati's public refusal of excessive compensation could bolster her company's reputation as values-driven and independent. Still, it signals a turning point in the AI labor market, where not every researcher can be bought with billions. For now, Thinking Machines Lab remains immune to Meta's vast war chest, though the question remains: for how long? As the AI arms race continues to escalate, the saga between Meta and Thinking Machines may just be the opening chapter. With more funding rounds, product launches, and talent bids expected in the months ahead, the spotlight will remain firmly on leaders like Mira Murati and Mark Zuckerberg. Thinking Machines Lab is a San Francisco-based AI startup founded by Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI. It recently made headlines after Murati revealed that her entire 50-member team rejected job offers from Meta, including a staggering $1 billion offer, highlighting the growing battle for AI talent. According to Murati, one of her team members was offered a $1 billion compensation package by Meta. However, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone disputed the claim, saying the reported figures were exaggerated and questioned the motives behind the leak.

Anthropic CEO throws shade at Mark Zuckerberg's billion-dollar AI talent hunt with dartboard dig: 'You can't buy purpose with a paycheck'

Dario Amodei, Anthropic CEO, has criticised Meta's AI recruitment. He questions Meta's high compensation offers. Amodei says Anthropic prioritizes culture and fair pay. Meta is aggressively poaching AI engineers. This is from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. Meta's strategy involves huge financial incentives. Amodei believes purpose-driven work cannot be bought. He focuses on ethical AI development at Anthropic. In the escalating turf war for top AI talent, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has delivered a pointed, and slightly humorous, critique of Meta's aggressive recruitment tactics. Speaking on the Big Technology Podcast, Amodei painted a vivid picture: "If Mark Zuckerberg throws a dart at a dartboard and it hits your name, that doesn't mean you should be paid ten times more than the guy next to you who's just as skilled." His remarks come amid widespread reports of Meta launching an all-out offensive to poach AI engineers from rivals like OpenAI, Apple, Google, and Anthropic itself. Yet Amodei claims his startup has remained largely untouched. "Some [employees] wouldn't even talk to Meta," he said, asserting that their culture and mission are more attractive than any compensation package Meta can offer. Meta has reportedly been dangling massive offers, with some packages surpassing $200 million for a single hire, according to Business Insider and WIRED. Amodei, however, says Anthropic refuses to match such sums, insisting on fair and consistent pay across the board. "I recently posted in our company Slack that we will not compromise our compensation principles or fairness if someone gets a big offer," he shared. In his view, rewarding one employee disproportionately just because they were on Meta's radar would be unjust to their equally capable colleagues. Despite this stance, Meta has managed to lure away at least one former Anthropic engineer -- Joel Pobar -- but Amodei suggests their broader impact has been limited. Meta's latest AI moonshot, the Superintelligence Lab, has ignited a fierce scramble for elite minds. OpenAI's Chief Research Officer Mark Chen likened it to a break-in after losing several staffers overnight. Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman accused Meta of deploying "giant offers" to lure talent, with some signing bonuses rumored to top $100 million. Zuckerberg is unapologetic about the ambition. In an internal memo seen by CNBC, he claimed, "Developing superintelligence is coming into sight," declaring his goal to bring personal AI to every individual, not just enterprise clients. While Meta may have the resources, Amodei questions whether mission-driven AI work can be bought. "Zuckerberg is trying to buy something that can't be bought," he said during the podcast, underscoring Anthropic's long-term focus on safe and ethical AI development. This sentiment resonates with other industry leaders too. OpenAI continues to frame itself as a purpose-first organization, while Meta's flashier, big-money moves risk creating tension even within its own teams. As CNBC reported, some insiders at Meta worry that a talent-heavy, cash-fueled approach could lead to ego clashes and fractured projects. In the current AI landscape, where demand far outpaces supply, the value of a skilled AI researcher is rivaling that of a professional athlete. Yet, for companies like Anthropic and OpenAI, the real challenge isn't just retaining talent -- it's maintaining a sense of purpose amid the frenzy.

Top Meta engineers have joined xAI: CEO Elon Musk - The Economic Times

Taking to X, Musk revealed that many former Meta engineers have joined his AI startup, xAI. However, he pointed out that unlike Meta, xAI isn't offering "insane" pay packages. In response, the Meta founder has dismissed these claims, saying the numbers are "inaccurate".Billionaire Elon Musk has finally waded into the ongoing AI talent battle initiated by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The competition for top talent has seen companies such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft losing key people, especially to Meta's newly formed Superintelligence Labs. Taking to X, Musk revealed that many former Meta engineers have joined his AI startup, xAI. However, he pointed out that unlike Meta, xAI isn't offering "insane" pay packages. "Many strong Meta engineers have and are joining xAI and without the need for insane initial comp (still great, but not unsustainably high)," Musk posted. "Also, xAI has vastly more market cap growth potential than Meta," he added. Musk went on to describe his company as being "hyper merit-based" and said, "Do something great and your comp can shift substantially higher". On Sunday, Musk posted a shoutout to engineers, saying, "For ultra-hardcore engineers, @xAI is the place to be." Also Read: AI talent wars: Altman's OpenAI poaches top engineers from Musk, Zuckerberg firms Meta responds Musk isn't alone in calling out Meta for its high compensation offers. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, which has been Meta's prime poaching target, has also made similar remarks on Zuckerberg's aggressive hiring tactics, noting that some bonuses go up to $100 million. However, the Meta founder has dismissed these claims, saying the numbers are "inaccurate". Speaking to investors, he explained, "We're building an elite, talent-dense team. If you're going to be spending hundreds of billions of dollars on computers and building out multiple gigawatts of clusters, then it really does make sense to compete super hard and do whatever it takes to get, you know, 50 or 70 or whatever it is, top researchers to build your team." Some of Meta's major hires in recent months include Daniel Gross (CEO of AI startup Safe Superintelligence), Ruoming Pang (leader of Apple's Foundation Models team), and Nat Friedman (former GitHub CEO), along with several other top researchers from big and small companies. Also Read: Top AI talent attracted not just by paycheques: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

A top-grade Cambridge graduate with stints at Goldman Sachs, Meta, and OpenAI; yet he turned down a $1.5 billion offer from Zuckerberg

Andrew Tulloch, an Australian AI expert and ex-Meta engineer, went viral after reportedly rejecting a $1.5 billion offer from Mark Zuckerberg. A Cambridge graduate and OpenAI alumnus, Tulloch co-founded Thinking Machines Lab, now valued at $12 billion. His decision highlights a shift in Silicon Valley, where purpose, innovation, and equity can outweigh even the most staggering paychecks. In the high-stakes world of artificial intelligence, turning down a $1.5 billion offer is not just rare -- it's almost unfathomable. Yet that's exactly what Andrew Tulloch, a 34-year-old Australian computer scientist and AI expert, is believed to have done. And now, his LinkedIn profile is breaking the internet. Tulloch's story begins in Perth, Australia, where he graduated with a near-perfect ATAR of 99.95. After clinching the university medal in mathematics from the University of Sydney, he headed to Cambridge to earn a master's in mathematical statistics and machine learning -- while also working as a quantitative analyst at Goldman Sachs. But this was only the start. By 2012, Tulloch had moved to the United States and joined Meta (then Facebook), where he spent 11 years, ultimately becoming a Distinguished Engineer. His contributions to machine learning systems, including PyTorch, were pivotal during his tenure. After a brief but impactful stint at OpenAI, Tulloch co-founded Thinking Machines Lab in early 2024 alongside Mira Murati, the former Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI. The company, still in its infancy, has already made waves in the AI landscape. According to The Wall Street Journal, Mark Zuckerberg first attempted to acquire Thinking Machines Lab outright but was rebuffed by Murati. Not one to give up easily, the Meta CEO then tried a more personal strategy -- offering Tulloch a $1.55 billion package over six years, complete with stock incentives and performance bonuses. Tulloch said no. Despite Meta later calling the reported figures "inaccurate and ridiculous," the story caught fire. In a tech industry often driven by titles and compensation, Tulloch's decision struck a nerve -- and a chord -- with professionals and observers alike. A former Meta colleague described him as an "extreme genius." Tulloch's decision has since been held up as an example of vision and conviction. "Some chase titles, others chase equity. Then there are those who chase purpose," read a now-viral comment. "I think turning down $1.5B isn't about the money, it's about building something that matters." Thinking Machines Lab, which describes itself as "an artificial intelligence research and product company building a future where everyone has access to AI tailored to their needs", is already reportedly valued at $12 billion. If the company's trajectory continues, Tulloch's equity could be worth far more than Zuckerberg's offer. A user on X (formerly Twitter) even did the math: "Tulloch's net worth could hit $3 billion after their Series B round." Others called his decision a simple risk-reward calculation. "He's betting that within six years his equity will be worth more than $1.5 billion. And he's probably right." What makes Tulloch's story especially fascinating isn't just the money -- it's the person. His viral LinkedIn profile despite without a single post, reads more like a modern Renaissance résumé. He's fluent in multiple programming languages, obsessed with "big learning," and has worked across the financial, academic, and technological spectrum. His rare mix of humility, intellect, and strategic thinking has turned him into an unlikely folk hero in tech circles. Tulloch's decision also highlights the intensifying war for AI talent. Meta has reportedly offered $100 million bonuses to OpenAI engineers in attempts to lure them. In June, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed that none of their best talent had taken up such offers. If Meta's aggressive recruitment drives suggest desperation, Tulloch's quiet refusal offers a compelling counter-narrative: in today's AI arms race, building something meaningful might just matter more than a billion-dollar paycheck.

Mark Zuckerberg's $1 Billion Offer To Poach Talent From Ex-OpenAI CTO's AI Firm Gets Rejected - Report

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw his billion-dollar recruiting offer for a staffer working for former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati's AI lab rejected, according to Wired Magazine. Meta's attempts to recruit OpenAI and other AI lab employees have made rounds this month and stunned observers with the compensation offered, which is higher than what top executives make at most companies. However, those approached at Murati's startup, called the Thinking Machines Lab, have turned down offers that ranged between $200 million and $1 billion due to concerns about working culture and overall development goals. Meta and Zuckerberg's attempts to recruit top talent from OpenAI started making rounds last month when OpenAI reported that 'someone was trying to break into its house.' The offers made to former OpenAI employees touched $100 million and surprised observers with their scale. Meta made the offers as part of its recruitment drive for a new Superintelligence lab, and a new report from Wired suggests that the firm recently turned its sights on the Thinking Machines Lab - a startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and valued at $12 billion. According to the details, Meta significantly upped its offers for TML employees as they ranged from $200 million to $1 billion spread out over four or multiple years. A Meta spokesperson commented on the story and admitted that the offers were made, but added that the "details were off." The spokesperson did not provide the correct details and wondered who was "spinning this narrative." Within these offers, just one touched the unbelievable $1 billion mark but it was turned down. Some of the reasons why TML employees and staffers turned down Meta's offers include concerns about the working culture at Meta's Superintelligence lab and the lab's overall goals. Meta made headlines after it bought a 49% stake in Alexandr Wang's Scale AI in June and brought it under the wing of its Superintellgence lab. TML staffers, among others, are concerned about working under Wang. They are also hesitant to join Meta due to worries about eventually creating AI products for the firm's Instagram and Facebook social media services. TML staffers want to work on broader objectives such as artificial super intelligence. Meta's multibillion dollar investments into its Superintellgence labs have also generated worries that the firm will now seek to recover the investment by focusing on for-profit AI. In an interview with The Information earlier this month , Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg refuted reports that his firm had offered $200 million pay packages to recruit AI researchers and engineers. However, he added that the billions of dollars invested in computation hardware meant that it made sense to recruit only the best AI developers in the world.

Elon Musk Slams Mark Zuckerberg's Hiring Spree, Says xAI Has More 'Growth Potential' Than Meta Without 'Insane' Salaries - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL)

Elon Musk, in a recent post, lauded the growth potential of his start-up, xAI and its merit-based compensation system, amid Meta Platform's META aggressive AI hiring spree. Trending Investment OpportunitiesAdvertisementArrivedBuy shares of homes and vacation rentals for as little as $100. Get StartedWiserAdvisorGet matched with a trusted, local financial advisor for free.Get StartedPoint.comTap into your home's equity to consolidate debt or fund a renovation.Get StartedRobinhoodMove your 401k to Robinhood and get a 3% match on deposits.Get StartedMusk Says Meta Engineers Joining xAI Amid Robust Growth On Sunday, Musk replied to an X user's post questioning Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's "desperate" hiring tactics. Musk posted about the influx of Meta engineers to xAI, stating that these transitions were happening without the need for "insane initial comp". He also emphasized xAI's "vastly more market cap growth potential than Meta" and its merit-based compensation system. Musk's comments also suggest that xAI, a company he is associated with, could pose a serious challenge to Meta's AI dominance. The mention of a merit-based compensation structure could also signal a new trend in the industry, where exceptional talent is rewarded with higher compensation. SEE ALSO: Jim Cramer Has Blunt Message for Fed Chair Powell After July Job Numbers Tanked Meta Strengthens AI Push With Key Hires From OpenAI, Apple And Beyond Musk's comments come at a time when Meta, under the leadership of Mark Zuckerberg, is making significant strides in the AI space. The company recently appointed Shengjia Zhao as Chief Scientist of its Superintelligence Labs, a move that Zuckerberg believes will play a crucial role in the development of the company's AI unit. Meta's AI ambitions were further bolstered by the recruitment of Ruoming Pang from Apple, who was leading the AI model team responsible for training Cupertino's foundational models. Pang's departure from Apple to join Meta was seen as a significant win for the company's AI efforts. Meta's strategy, however, has not been without criticism. Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies Inc. DELL, warned that Meta's AI hiring spree could lead to internal discontent among existing employees. xAI Eyes Government Expansion While Musk Asserts xAI's Capital Strength Meanwhile, in July, Musk denied reports that his AI startup, xAI, is pursuing a new funding round, dismissing claims of a potential $170-$200 billion valuation. However, later it was reported that xAI is looking to raise up to $12 billion in debt to build a large-scale AI supercomputing infrastructure using Nvidia NVDA chips. Also, Musk's xAI has "Grok for Government," a suite of AI products tailored for U.S. government use, following multi-million-dollar defense contracts awarded by the Pentagon. The company also announced two new government partnerships, including product availability through the GSA schedule, enabling federal agencies to procure xAI tools. READ MORE: Elon Musk Agrees With Cathie Wood: Tesla Is 'Largest AI Project On Earth' Amid Robotaxi Vision, Samsung Chip Deal Buzz Image via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. AAPLApple Inc$203.970.79%Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock RankingsEdge RankingsMomentum26.40Growth33.18Quality77.30Value9.92Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewDELLDell Technologies Inc$128.671.06%METAMeta Platforms Inc$758.501.13%NVDANVIDIA Corp$175.140.82%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Meta's AI Dream Team Is Defecting: Elon Musk Isn't Even Overpaying - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms META is shelling out staggering sums to lock in elite AI talent, signaling just how high the stakes are in Silicon Valley's AI race. But not everyone is impressed with the spending power, including Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk. Track META's stock trajectory here. What Happened: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly offering nine-figure packages to lure elite researchers from OpenAI, Apple Inc AAPL, and Alphabet Inc's GOOGL GOOG Google. The latest recruit to reportedly receive an offer is 24-year-old AI prodigy Matt Deitke, a former University of Washington doctoral student. Deitke initially declined Zuckerberg's offer, which was said to be worth $125 million over four years -- but reversed course after a personal meeting, accepting a revised deal with potential first-year earnings of $100 million. The blockbuster hire is part of Meta's broader push to dominate AI, with over $1 billion already spent on top-tier talent, including ex-Apple AI leader Ruoming Pang (Apple is also in the AI arms race). The company also made a massive $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI -- a leading data infrastructure startup founded by billionaire Alexandr Wang, whom Meta has tapped to lead its AI efforts. Zuckerberg's justification? "If you're going to be spending hundreds of billions...it really does make sense to compete super hard and do whatever it takes." In 2025, the company's capital expenditures for its so-called Superintelligence Labs are expected to jump to $72 billion. That's a $30 billion increase from the previous year. Read Also: Tesla Identity Crisis: Musk's xAI Vote Could Rewrite The EV Maker's DNA Why It Matters: Behind Meta's frenzied hiring spree is a botched rollout of its Llama 4 model, reportedly criticized for mimicking Chinese rival DeepSeek with underwhelming results. That flop has prompted a full strategy reboot and a scramble for outside brains -- leading to hires like Pang ($200M+ package), OpenAI's Shengjia Zhao and Wang's leadership in Scale AI bolstering Meta's data infrastructure capabilities. It also remains to be seen whether all this hiring will ultimately pay off. Musk, a big spender and AI entrepreneur in his own right, chimed in over the weekend with claims that Meta employees are jumping ship without the megabucks to join his AI startup, xAI. Musk's counter: "Many strong Meta engineers are joining xAI -- without the need for insane comp." He's also taking shots at Meta's bloated approach, claiming xAI has "vastly more market cap growth potential" and a "hyper merit-based" culture. His message to engineers: "For ultra-hardcore, @xAI is the place to be." Read Next: Elon Musk Wants 50 Million AI Brains -- Nvidia Still Sets The Standard Image: Shutterstock METAMeta Platforms Inc$763.491.80%Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock RankingsEdge RankingsMomentum85.94Growth75.48Quality94.30Value26.82Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewAAPLApple Inc$206.752.16%GOOGAlphabet Inc$194.292.28%GOOGLAlphabet Inc$193.442.28%TSLATesla Inc$303.430.26%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Meta dishes out $250M to lure 24-year-old AI whiz kid: 'We have...

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta gave a 24-year-old artificial intelligence whiz a staggering $250 million compensation package, raising the bar in the recruiting wars for top talent -- while also raising questions about economic inequality in an AI-dominated future. Matt Deitke, who recently dropped out of a computer science doctoral program at the University of Washington, initially turned down Zuckerberg's "low-ball" offer of approximately $125 million over four years, according to the New York Times. But when the Facebook founder, a former whiz kid himself, met with Deitke and doubled the offer to roughly $250 million -- with potentially $100 million paid in the first year alone -- the young researcher accepted what may be one of the largest employment packages in corporate history, the Times reported. "When computer scientists are paid like professional athletes, we have reached the climax of the 'Revenge of the Nerds!'" Professor David Autor, an economist at MIT, told The Post on Friday. Deitke's journey illustrates how quickly fortunes can be made in AI's limited talent pool. After leaving his doctoral program, he worked at Seattle's Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, where he led the development of Molmo, an AI chatbot capable of processing images, sounds, and text -- exactly the type of multimodal system Meta is pursuing. In November, Deitke co-founded Vercept, a startup focused on AI agents that can autonomously perform tasks using internet-based software. With approximately 10 employees, Vercept raised $16.5 million from investors including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. His groundbreaking work on 3D datasets, embodied AI environments and multimodal models earned him widespread acclaim, including an Outstanding Paper Award at NeurIPS 2022. The award, one of the highest accolades in the AI research community, is handed out to around a dozen researchers out of more than 10,000 submissions. The deal to lock up Deitke underscores Meta's aggressive push to compete in artificial intelligence. Meta has reportedly paid out more than $1 billion to build an all-star roster, including luring away Ruoming Pang, former head of Apple's AI models team, to join its Superintelligence Labs team with a compensation package reportedly worth more than $200 million. The company said capital expenditures will go up to $72 billion for 2025, an increase of approximately $30 billion year-over-year, in its earnings report Wednesday. While proponents argue that competition drives innovation, critics worry about the concentration of power among a few companies and individuals capable of shaping AI's development. Ramesh Srinivasan, a professor of Information Studies and Design/Media Arts at UCLA and founder of the university's Digital Cultures Lab, said the direction that companies like Meta are taking with artificial intelligence is "foundational to why our economy is becoming more unequal by the day." "These firms are awarding hundreds of millions of dollars to a handful of elite researchers while simultaneously laying off thousands of workers -- many of whom, like content moderators, are not even classified as full employees," Srinivasan told the New York Post. "These are the very jobs Meta and similar companies intend to replace with the AI systems they're aggressively developing." Srinivasan, who advises US policymakers on technology policy and has written extensively on the societal impact of AI, said this model of development rewards those advancing large language models while "displacing and disenfranchising the workers whose labor, ironically, generated the data powering those models in the first place." "This is cognitive task automation," he said. "It's HR, administrative work, paralegal work -- even driving for Uber. If data can be collected on a job, it can be mimicked by a machine. All of those forms of income are on the chopping block." Asked whether universal basic income might address mass displacement, Srinivasan, who hosts the Utopias podcast, called it "highly insufficient." "Yes, UBI gives people money, but it doesn't address the fundamental issue: no one is being paid for the data that makes these AI systems possible," he said. On Wednesday, Zuckerberg told investors on the company's earnings call: "We're building an elite, talent-dense team. If you're going to be spending hundreds of billions of dollars on compute and building out multiple gigawatt of clusters, then it really does make sense to compete super hard and do whatever it takes to get that, you know, 50 or 70 or whatever it is, top researchers to build your team." "There's just an absolute premium for the best and most talented people." A Meta spokesperson referred The Post to Zuckerberg's comments to investors.

Musk's xAI Wins Over Meta Talent Without Fat Salaries

Elon Musk Places a Counter Hiring Polity to Overshadow Meta's Aggressiveness and it Seems More Promising One of the world's wealthiest persons, Elon Musk, has publicly claimed that his artificial intelligence company, xAI, has been successfully hiring senior engineers from Meta for a long time. The surprising part of this announcement is that he revealed that xAI doesn't offer them a fat compensation. This claim highlights that Musk's AI startup's appeal rests more on its enormous market cap growth potential and a meritocratic culture than on insane salaries. This claim has pointed out a shift in the high-stakes rivalry between these two competitors, intensifying the global AI competition.

Meta offered billion-dollar deals to poach AI talent from Mira Murati's startup, but failed: Report

Meta recently hired Apple's AI model head with a $200M+ package over several years. Meta has been in the headlines for poaching AI talent from the industry. Recently, the social media giant grabbed eyeballs for trying to poach talent by offering multi-million-dollar pay packages. Meta has also tried to poach talent from the ex-OpenAI chief's startup Thinking Machines Lab. As per the reports, the company offered billion-dollar offers to select members, but we turned them down. According to the report by Wired, Meta extended pay packages ranging between $200 million and $1 billion in multi-year compensation packages, to lure top talent and expand the Superintelligence Lab. Despite the huge packages, Murati confirmed that not even a single person has taken the offer. This was not the first time. Big tech companies have been using their deep pockets to acquire innovations, but not all startups are ready to sell out. Murati, a former OpenAI CTO, introduced Thinking Machines Lab earlier this year, and the company has already gained unicorn status, without a single product launch. However, Meta has pushed back on some of the specifics with spokesperson Andy Stone claiming only a handful of offers were made and dismissing some reported figures. But the core fact: Meta offered billion-dollar packages, and the bait did not work. Also read: OnePlus 13R available for under Rs 37,000 during Amazon Great Freedom Festival 2025 If the reports and insiders are believed to be true, the researchers at Thinking Machines Lab are prioritising independence, driven by Murati's long-term vision of building foundational AI technologies free from corporate interference. Meanwhile, Meta has poached many employees from OpenAI and other tech companies. Recently, the company poached Apple's AI model chief, Ruoming Pang, by offering him a pay package of more than $200 million. However, the package was maintained for a period of multiple years.