OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Highlights Meta’s Recruitment Tactics in AI Talent War

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has claimed that Meta is trying to entice his leading engineers with signing bonuses reaching up to $100 million, highlighting the fierce competition for talent in the artificial intelligence sector.

Meta’s Aggressive Offers

Altman mentioned on the Uncapped podcast, hosted by his brother, that “They [Meta] started making giant offers to a lot of people on our team.” He specified that these offers include “like $100 million signing bonuses, more than that [in] compensation per year.”

Talent Retention at OpenAI

He further noted that so far, “none of our best people have decided to take them up on that.”

Rivalry Between AI Giants

These remarks bring attention to the increasing rivalry between two major players in AI, as large technology firms strive to attract the most talented individuals in generative AI. Meta has significantly ramped up its initiatives, particularly after establishing a superintelligence unit under the leadership of Alexandr Wang, founder of the data-labeling company Scale AI. Recently, Meta made a substantial investment of $14.3 billion in Wang’s firm before assigning him to this new role.

Meta’s Competitive Position

Altman mentioned, “I’ve heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor,” during the podcast.

Challenges Facing Meta

Meta’s recruitment efforts are taking place during a period when the company is reportedly facing internal challenges and delays in releasing competitive open-source AI models. Once viewed as a leading contender in the field, the parent company of Facebook is currently in a race to catch up with organizations such as Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and the emerging Chinese company DeepSeek.