SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — The battle for dominance in artificial intelligence is intensifying, as Meta Platforms reportedly offered OpenAI employees signing bonuses as high as $100 million in an attempt to poach top talent from the ChatGPT-maker.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed the recruiting push during a recent appearance on the Uncapped podcast, hosted by his brother Jack Altman. While Meta attempted to lure “a lot of people” from OpenAI, none of the company’s top talent accepted the offers, Sam Altman said.
“I’ve heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor,” Altman stated. “Their current AI efforts have not worked as well as they hoped, and I respect being aggressive and continuing to try new things.”
Meta has not responded to requests for comment on Altman’s claims.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is spearheading an ambitious effort to build what the company calls a “superintelligence” AI lab. The initiative is part of Meta’s larger artificial intelligence strategy, which includes significant investment in research, open-source models, and AI infrastructure.
Last week, Meta announced a $14.3 billion investment for a 49% stake in Scale AI, a major data-labeling and infrastructure company. As part of the deal, Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang joined Meta, and a small number of his team members followed. The Times reported Wang would lead a new lab focused on building AI systems that could surpass human intelligence.
In addition to Wang, Meta has recently poached Jack Rae, a top researcher at Google DeepMind, according to Bloomberg, which also noted Zuckerberg’s involvement in the hiring efforts.
Meta’s aggressive hiring comes amid internal frustration. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company delayed the release of its latest AI model due to concerns about its safety and performance. This delay added pressure on Meta’s AI division to keep pace with rivals like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google.
Sources told CNBC that Zuckerberg, dissatisfied with Meta’s standing in the AI space, is willing to invest billions more to secure top-tier talent and fast-track development.
Despite Meta’s deep pockets, Altman criticized its approach. He said offering large, upfront compensation packages can distract employees from meaningful innovation.
“I think that strategy doesn’t set up a winning culture,” Altman said on the podcast. “You’re always going to where your competitor was instead of learning how to build something new.”
Altman suggested that simply copying OpenAI’s methods won’t help Meta get ahead, noting that successful AI companies require a culture rooted in discovery and long-term thinking.
Not everyone agrees that Meta is falling behind. Daniel Newman, CEO of Futurum Group, told CNBC that Meta’s open-source contributions—especially its Llama family of language models—have laid the groundwork for a large part of today’s AI development.
“They built the rails for open-source AI development,” Newman said. The Llama models, made available to researchers and developers, have fueled a wide range of third-party applications.
These efforts, according to Newman, position Meta as a strong force in the AI ecosystem, even if it trails in user-facing products like ChatGPT.
While Meta invests billions in AI, OpenAI is also growing. The company recently acquired io, a startup founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, in a $6.4 billion all-equity deal. The acquisition brings Ive and his hardware-focused team into OpenAI’s fold, expanding its ambitions beyond software.
The rivalry between OpenAI and Meta reflects a larger trend: elite AI talent is in high demand, and the stakes keep rising. Companies are willing to pay eye-popping sums not only to accelerate innovation but also to prevent rivals from getting ahead.
Whether Meta’s aggressive recruitment will pay off remains to be seen. But one thing is clear—AI’s future will be shaped not just by algorithms, but by who can hire and retain the minds building them.
