Meta’s push into artificial intelligence has led to some eye-watering recruitment offers. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta offered massive $100 million bonuses to lure away OpenAI employees, with annual salaries exceeding $100 million.
Speaking on the “Uncapped with Jack Altman” podcast, Altman revealed the social media giant extended these offers to numerous team members
“It is crazy,” Altman said during the interview with his brother, Jack. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them up on that.”
Meta has not responded to media requests for comment.
The tech giant has been aggressively expanding its artificial intelligence capabilities amid a global race to dominate the field, competing directly with OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft.
Earlier this year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to invest at least $60 billion in AI development in 2025 alone.
As part of its push, Meta reportedly struck a deal worth over $10 billion with Scale AI, a data labeling firm, with its CEO Alexandr Wang set to join Meta’s superintelligence efforts.
Despite acknowledging Meta’s strengths, Altman questioned the long-term value of its recruitment strategy.
“The strategy of a ton of upfront guaranteed comp and that being the reason you tell someone to join — I don’t think that’s going to set up a great culture,” he said.
He added, “There’s many things I respect about Meta as a company, but I don’t think they’re a company that’s great at innovation.”
In contrast, Altman is confident that OpenAI has a better chance of achieving superintelligence.
