Abel founder and enfant terrible of the algorithmic age, Daniel Francis, is incredulous at the remuneration offers being punted by the likes of Meta. On Sunday, Daniel told his throng of social media followers that Meta had offered a potential hire $1.25 billion. The sum was for a four-year stint, admittedly. Despite the 10-figure lure, which would mean over $300 million a year, the potential hire didn’t take the bait.
Update: was informed of a $1.25 billion offer for four years, new highest I've seenguys what the hell is going on https://t.co/n5vDZ7Dl5yJuly 20, 2025
The above Tweet is actually an update to one Daniel floated into the X-abyss this weekend, suggesting that Meta was fishing for a high-caliber AI auteur armed with a $1 billion incentive. Whatever the case, “Person said no, btw,” Daniel added, without embellishment.
To his rhetorical question about “what the hell is going on,” Daniel didn’t take too long to give one of his followers an answer, though. When someone raised the obvious valuation comparison, where hires are starting to attract ‘IP style money,’ Daniel said, “IP is in people’s heads [right now].”
Francis, whose startup uses AI to build police reports from body cam footage and dispatch call data, shot to internet notoriety in 2023 when he pretended to be a disgruntled Twitter worker fired by Elon Musk. After fooling multiple outlets into believing his story, he was hired by Musk to join the company.
Billion dollar contract is no one-off
The headlining employment contract worth $1.25 billion isn’t unusual, according to several posters who replied to Daniel. AI researcher Roon, who is believed to have previously worked at OpenAI, stated that he’s heard of higher offers being made. “It’s not that crazy when you think of it like an acquihire,” he stated, in an explanation which dovetails with Daniel’s highlighting of valuable IP being in folk’s heads in the current AI era.
After another seeming serious contribution, attempting to confirm that “The highest you’ve heard is regular to me,” the thread began to turn into something of a farce. Posters moved on to trying to outdo each other with tales of infinite wealth, only matched by their levels of silliness.
AI biz CEO recently admitted nine-figure signing bonuses are real
Though we must take some of the claims above with a dash of salt, there are undoubtedly some extremely lucrative employment contracts being offered to established and rising AI execs.
A case of extreme remuneration in the AI field came straight from the CEO’s mouth last month. In June, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that Meta was attempting to swipe OpenAI technical staff with $100 million signing bonuses. “I’m really happy that, at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take them up on that,” asserted Altman.
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