Sam Altman claims Meta offered $100 million bonuses to lure OpenAI staff

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has alleged that Meta Platforms offered signing bonuses as high as $100 million to OpenAI employees in an attempt to recruit top talent, underscoring the intensifying competition among tech firms for artificial intelligence expertise.

Speaking on the Uncapped podcast, hosted by his brother, Altman said Meta had been making what he described as “giant offers” to several members of his team.

“You know, like $100 million signing bonuses, more than that in compensation per year,” he said.

While Altman noted that “none of our best people have decided to take them up on that,” the offers reflect the growing trend of AI engineers and researchers being pursued with compensation packages comparable to those of elite athletes or entertainers.

Meta has not commented publicly on the claim, and Reuters could not independently verify the reported offers.

Altman added: “I've heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor,” framing the rivalry as part of a broader race among tech companies to dominate the rapidly advancing AI landscape.

The remarks come shortly after Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI, a leading data-labeling startup, and brought on its CEO, Alexandr Wang, to head Meta’s newly formed superintelligence unit. This strategic shift highlights Meta's efforts to accelerate development and catch up with major players like OpenAI and Google in the generative AI space.

Meta, once a front-runner in open-source Artificial Intelligence, has recently faced internal challenges, including staff turnover and delays in rolling out new models intended to compete with those from OpenAI, Google, and China’s DeepSeek.

The surge in demand for elite AI talent, combined with massive investment inflows, is reshaping the landscape of the tech industry and raising the stakes for companies seeking to lead in artificial general intelligence and superintelligence development.

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