Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, revealed that Meta has extended offers totaling $100 million (approximately Rs. 863 crore) in bonuses to entice his employees as the tech company accelerates its efforts in artificial intelligence.
This move by Meta, aimed at recruiting OpenAI personnel, reflects the intense competition to secure top engineering talent in the AI sector, particularly as the parent company of Facebook is striving to establish its superintelligence division in order to keep pace with rivals.
The race for AI expertise has intensified, with leading researchers being pursued akin to professional athletes, driven by the belief that key individuals can significantly influence a company’s trajectory.
Despite the lucrative offers, Altman noted, “So far, none of our top talents have opted to accept these proposals.”
Meta has yet to respond to requests for comment outside of regular business hours, and Reuters has not been able to verify Altman’s claims.
Altman also mentioned that Meta views OpenAI as its greatest competitor.
These comments follow recently disclosed investments by Meta, including a substantial $14.3 billion (around Rs. 1,23,421 crore) in the data-labeling startup Scale AI, and the recruitment of its CEO, Alexandr Wang, to spearhead their new superintelligence initiative.
Once hailed as a pioneer in developing open-source AI models, Meta has faced challenges such as employee turnover and delays in the launch of new models aimed at challenging competitors like Google, China’s DeepSeek, and OpenAI.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
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