Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, has accused Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, of attempting to lure his top artificial intelligence experts with “crazy” signing bonuses of up to $100 million.
Speaking on the Uncapped podcast (hosted by his brother Jack), Altman described these offers as unusually large upfront compensation packages. He added that none of OpenAI’s key staff had accepted these deals so far.
Altman criticised the approach, saying: "I don’t think that’s going to set up a great culture.”
Meta recently unveiled a $15 billion initiative aimed at developing “super-intelligence,” an advanced AI capable of outperforming humans in all tasks. The company has also invested heavily in AI startups such as Scale AI.
The competition for AI talent is intense, with other firms like Anthropic, backed by Amazon and Google, also drawing engineers away from rivals.
Altman suggested that despite vast investment, the impact of AI might fall short of expectations, although he highlighted its potential to accelerate scientific discovery over the next decade.