Mark Zuckerberg is forming the new superintelligence lab And to garnish the ranks of his peak unit dedicated to AI, he does not hesitate to take out the checkbook, offering employees other companies up to 300 million dollars in four years, including nearly $ 100 million compensation for their transfer.
Meta thus made at least 10 very high offers to executives working at Open AI. One of the researches of research in the company led by Sam Altman was offered the role of director of research, but would have refused it according to many sources aware of the file. The salary includes actions in the package, but more rare, these are immediately obtained from the first year, according to sources.
“This is roughly the amount that should be spent so that I agree to go to work at Meta”, judges an employee of Openai who is expressed under the seal of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about his work. Other employees told us that money was not the only factor to get into account, that there was also the question of the impact of work in his business. And many of them think that the work they do at Open AI is more rewarding than that one could ask them at Meta.
“These statements are false-the amount and organization of remuneration have been distorted everywhere,” said Andy Stone, spokesperson for Meta. Some people knowingly exaggerated all this for personal purposes. »»
A job at 100 million
A senior engineer who agreed to speak to us confirmed that his salary was around $ 850,000 a year at Meta – an impressive sum of course, but who remains below the amounts mentioned. Those who are at the higher level than that of this engineer earn an average of $ 1.54 million per year, according to data provided by users on Levels.
Andrew Bosworth, director of technology at Meta, said it was not everyone who was offered a 100 million dollars job during a job interview. “We are currently recruiting in management positions, positions that cost particularly expensive”. But he wanted to rectify the history of $ 100 million, which would not be a simple job bonus but a figure which “would take into account all the advantages offered”, while arguing that OPEN aligned with these offers.
By way of comparison, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, received $ 79.1 million in 2024, the majority of which in action, according to the company’s public tax documents. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO, won around $ 39.4 million in the same year.
Monday, Mark Zuckerberg sent a message to Meta employees to present the new superintendent team. Alexandr Wang, formerly CEO of Scale AI, is now the director of AI at Meta. He is joined by Nat Friedman, who previously directed Github. Together, Wang and Friedman will be at the head of the Meta Superintelligence Labs. The company has not announced any research director or scientific director this message. Neither Wang nor Friedman are considered to be researchers, at least in the traditional sense of the term. None of Openai employees who left the company for Meta received the offer of $ 300 million, according to a source knowing contracts.
Debauchery and rebalancing
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mark Zuckerberg told potential recruits that the company was protected from the risk of shortages. A particularly attractive element in the artificial intelligence sector, which is experiencing strong competition for access to fleas or latest generation processors, which can be crucial in the outcome of research. At Openai, researchers, for example, complained that despite the promises of Sam Altman, they did not have access to the latest generation processors.
Until now, Zuckerberg has managed to debum at least seven employees at Openai, which prompted Mark Chen, Openai research director, sending a message to the staff during the weekend, saying that he had the impression “that someone had broken into our house and had stolen something”. Chen added that if Openai is recalibrating her own remuneration for the best talents, she will not do so at the expense of equity. Mark Chen also said that “many superordinators will be put into service in the course of the year”.
Openai CEO Sam Altman has split a message on Slack on Monday evening, denouncing Meta’s attempts and suggesting that Optai was working on a rebalancing of the remuneration.
