On the eve of the much-anticipated release of GPT-5, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman took to the company’s Slack to share unexpected news with employees.
Altman noted in his message that OpenAI had been reviewing compensation for technical teams amidst shifts in the market. He announced a “special one-time award” aimed at researchers and software engineers across several divisions, including applied engineering, scaling, and safety.
He expressed an intention to continue enhancing compensation as OpenAI grows stronger as a company. “We wanted to be transparent about this one since it’s a new initiative for us,” Altman added, expressing gratitude for the employees’ dedication to advancing AGI.
The bonuses will differ depending on each employee’s role and level of experience. Sources indicate that some of OpenAI’s top researchers may see bonus amounts reaching the mid-single-digit millions, while engineers could receive bonuses averaging in the hundreds of thousands. These bonuses are set to be distributed quarterly over the following two years, allowing employees the choice between stock, cash, or both. Approximately one-third of OpenAI’s workforce, roughly 1,000 employees, will be eligible for this bonus program.
Simultaneously, OpenAI is preparing to facilitate a path for more employees to sell vested stock to investors. Altman has reportedly indicated optimism regarding the potential sale price, anticipating it to exceed the $274 valuation from the prior funding round, which pegged the company’s worth at $300 billion. A recent report suggests that OpenAI could be valued at around $500 billion in an upcoming tender offer.
An OpenAI spokesperson opted not to comment on the situation. The news of the special bonuses for research and engineering staff was initially disclosed by The Information, while the details of Altman’s memo are being reported for the first time here.
This unprecedented move to provide a one-time bonus to a broad array of employees underscores the intense competition for talent within the AI sector. OpenAI has recently witnessed the departure of several high-profile researchers to Meta, including Shengjia Zhao, who has recently taken the role of chief scientist at Meta. Mark Chen, OpenAI’s chief research officer, has expressed a stark view of this talent drain, comparing the situation to a home invasion, while Altman has reassured staff that “missionaries will beat mercenaries.”
Beyond rival Meta, Elon Musk’s xAI is reportedly making significant efforts to attract top talent away from OpenAI, while former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati has also recruited several technical leaders to initiate her own venture, Thinking Machines.
By providing the bonus to only a select group within OpenAI, Altman runs the risk of engendering envy among those who contributed significantly to this week’s launches but were not included. Nonetheless, the mood among employees appears buoyant following the launch of GPT-5. After a celebratory event on Thursday, Altman reportedly joined staff for a happy hour at Splash, a popular sports bar situated in the Chase Center near the company’s headquarters in San Francisco.
More on OpenAI
- Anthropic faces a setback. Notable among the companies expressing support for GPT-5 was Cursor, whose executives appeared on OpenAI’s livestream to announce their decision to adopt the model as their default, replacing Claude. This shift might ring alarm bells at Anthropic, as Cursor is a substantial revenue source for them. This scenario sheds light on why Anthropic hurriedly released an update to Claude, enhancing its coding abilities. The competition in the AI landscape remains fierce!
- Early adopters of GPT-5. Contrary to some expectations, I was not one of the early testers, nor were many from the traditional media. OpenAI chose to grant early access exclusively to select independent creators and influencers, all under a non-disclosure agreement. Early access was reportedly given about two weeks ago, making it particularly impressive that the details about GPT-5 did not leak. For insights on the impressions shared by these early reviewers, one can refer to articles from the crew at Every, Simon Willison, Ethan Mollick, Matt Schumer, and others.
Link list
More to explore:
- My dialogue with Decoder featuring GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke.
- Ollama has introduced a new app for running LLMs like GPT-OSS locally.
- Eleven Labs launched a new model for generating commercially viable music.
- An analysis of the tech companies leading in the engineering talent acquisition.
- Exploring “How AI conquered the US economy.”
- A look at life within AI startups post-reverse acquihire scenarios.
- An appeal to cease: Attempts to nickname San Francisco’s Mission District “the Arena.”
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