Meta Offers $100 Million Bonuses to Lure OpenAI Talent: Sam Altman

By siliconindia  |  Wednesday, 18 June 2025, 10:41:00 AM IST

Meta Offers $100 Million Bonuses to Lure OpenAI Talent: Sam Altman
  • Meta is offering up to $100 million bonuses to recruit OpenAI engineers, says CEO Sam Altman.
  • Altman claims top OpenAI staff have declined Meta’s aggressive offers so far.
  • The move reflects intense competition for AI talent as Meta builds its superintelligence unit.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has claimed that Meta Platforms is aggressively pursuing OpenAI engineers with signing bonuses as high as $100 million, as part of the tech giant’s ambitious push into artificial intelligence.
Speaking on the Uncapped podcast, hosted by his brother, Altman revealed, 'They [Meta] started making giant offers to a lot of people on our team $100 million signing bonuses, more than that in compensation per year”. Despite the staggering offers, he noted that 'none of our best people have decided to take them up on that, at least so far'.
Altman’s remarks come amid an intensifying race among tech companies to secure top-tier AI talent, widely regarded as key to developing next-generation models and technologies. “I’ve heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor”, Altman added.
The comments follow Meta’s recent $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, a prominent data-labeling firm, and the appointment of its CEO, Alexandr Wang, to head Meta’s newly-formed superintelligence division. These moves signal Meta’s urgency in catching up to competitors like OpenAI and Google in the AI arms race.
Once considered a leader in open-source AI, Meta has recently faced internal challenges, including staff exits and delayed model rollouts. The company's attempts to poach talent from rivals highlight the increasing pressure to close the gap in AI innovation.
Meta has yet to issue a response regarding Altman’s statements.

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