Meta offering OpenAI researchers up to $300 million to join its AI lab, says report; company responds, says ‘Some people have chosen to…’

Meta

CEO Mark Zuckerberg is offering massive pay packages— up to $300 million over four years—to lure top AI talent for the company’s new ‘Superintelligence’ lab, reports WIRED. Quoting unnamed sources, the report says that Meta has made at least 10 high-value offers to staffers at OpenAI. The offers include company stock, and a big part of it is given right away in the first year—bringing the total pay to over $100 million. Beyond compensation, Zuckerberg is reportedly telling potential hires they won’t have to worry about access to computing resources—especially high-demand GPUs, which can make or break research success.Many OpenAI employees said they are weighing the huge payouts against how much impact they could make at Meta compared to their current roles. Several believe their influence would be greater at OpenAI. “That’s about how much it would take for me to go work at Meta,” said one OpenAI employee who spoke to WIRED anonymously. According to the report, one top researcher was even offered the position of chief scientist, but turned it down.

Meta denies

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told the publication “Some people have chosen to greatly exaggerate what’s happening for their own purposes.”

“These statements are untrue — the size and structure of these compensation packages have been misrepresented all over the place.”Still, the numbers speak volumes. A senior engineer currently working at Meta told WIRED they earn about $850,000 per year—already high by industry standards, but nowhere close to what Meta is reportedly offering to a select few. Engineers in the tier above (E7s) reportedly make around $1.54 million annually, based on public data from Levels.FYI.Meta’s Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth acknowledged during a Q&A with employees that some roles do command premium pay—but pushed back on the $100 million figure.“Look, you guys, the market's hot. It's not that hot. Okay? So it's just a lie,” Bosworth said.“We have a small number of leadership roles that we're hiring for, and those people do command a premium,” he added.“It’s not a sign-on bonus, but all these different things,” he added, referring to how the offers are structured.

Mark Zuckerberg launches superintelligence labs

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg officially introduced Meta’s new Superintelligence Labs on Monday in a note to staff. Former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang is now Meta’s Chief AI Officer, joined by Nat Friedman, the former GitHub CEO. The two will co-lead the team.Notably, neither Wang nor Friedman are researchers in the traditional academic sense. Meta has not named a chief scientist or research head yet. According to sources, none of the OpenAI hires so far have received the full $300 million package.

OpenAI: “Someone has broken into our home”

The hiring spree has rattled leadership at OpenAI. Mark Chen, the company’s Chief Research Officer, reportedly told staff: “It feels as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something.”Chen acknowledged that OpenAI is adjusting compensation to remain competitive but emphasized that it would not sacrifice fairness.