What’s on Zuckerberg’s secret ‘The List’—and why AI insiders are paying attention

In Silicon Valley, there’s one list everyone’s talking about—and no, it’s not a guest list for an exclusive tech gala. It’s The List—a hand-picked roster of the world’s top AI researchers and engineers that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly spent months assembling.

The mission? To bring in talent from rival firms in a bold attempt to reposition Meta as a dominant player in the global AI race.According to The Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg has personally been reaching out to high-value recruits, offering eye-popping compensation packages—some reportedly worth as much as $100 million.

The new arms race

While the world obsesses over AI products like ChatGPT or Gemini, the real battle among tech giants is unfolding behind the scenes secretly.

Meta is racing against heavyweights like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. These companies have all poured billions into AI development, but Zuckerberg seems to believe the edge lies not in the data or the hardware, but in people.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Zuckerberg has even created a private WhatsApp group called “Recruiting Party,” involving himself and two other senior Meta executives to coordinate outreach.

He’s also been scanning academic papers and industry publications personally, in search of rising stars—especially those with elite PhDs from institutions like UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon, and experience at top AI labs like Google DeepMind and OpenAI.The people on The List aren’t just brilliant—they’re deeply networked. Many are in their 20s or 30s, already working at the cutting edge of AI, and have begun exchanging notes about Meta’s recruiting drive.

One such candidate told WSJ that Zuckerberg’s goal seems to be nothing short of a “transfusion from the country’s top AI labs.”

Money talks—but not everyone’s listening

The recruitment drive hasn’t gone unnoticed—or uncriticized. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, publicly slammed the strategy on the Uncapped podcast, hosted by his brother Jack. Altman called Meta’s rumored compensation offers “crazy” and questioned the long-term value of leading with money over mission.“I think the strategy of a ton of upfront, guaranteed comp... I don’t think that’s going to set up a great culture,” Altman said. “At least so far, none of our best people have taken them up on that.”

Still, Meta isn’t backing down. As per a Wall Street Journal report, just this month, it spent $14 billion for a stake in Scale AI and appointed its 28-year-old founder, Alexandr Wang, to head a new “superintelligence team”—an internal division focused on building AI systems that could theoretically exceed human intelligence.

In a high-stakes game, secrecy and security take center stage

As the value of AI researchers skyrockets, so does the level of secrecy surrounding them. Companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are reportedly going to extreme lengths to guard their talent and intellectual property.According to WSJ, some labs have separate, access-restricted floors with drawn blinds to deter corporate or foreign surveillance. At Safe Superintelligence, job applicants are asked to leave their phones in Faraday cages—sealed containers that block wireless signals.Anthropic even brought in an FBI agent to warn employees about the risks of espionage.With salaries soaring and competition intensifying, top AI researchers have become tech’s most sought-after currency. The game isn’t just about who builds the best model—it’s about who gets to build it, and under which banner.