Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg tried to lure ChatGPT workers to his AI team with offers worth up to $100 million, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Speaking on the Uncapped podcast, Mr Altman revealed Meta’s recruitment efforts had been largely unsuccessful, despite the huge compensation packages on offer.
“[Meta] started making these, like, giant offers to a lot of people on our team,” he told his brother, Jack Altman, who hosts the podcast.
“You know, like, $100 million signing bonuses, more than that [in] compensation per year… It is crazy. I’m really happy that, at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take him up on that.”
The figure, if accurate, is roughly five times more than the $20 million compensation package offered to Lionel Messi for joining MLS side Inter Miami. The Independent has reached out to Meta for comment.
The OpenAI boss said his employees preferred to stick with his company because it is further ahead in its mission to create superintelligence – artificial intelligence that surpasses human intelligence.
Previous reports have also suggested that Meta is targeting employees at Google DeepMind, offering similar levels of compensation.
Some of these efforts appear to have been successful, with DeepMind researcher Jack Rae joining Meta’s ‘Superintelligence’ team earlier this month.
The team is set to be led by Alexander Wang from Scale AI after Meta announced last week a $14.3 billion investment in the AI startup.
During the podcast, which was published on Tuesday, Mr Altman also gave details about future AI products that OpenAI is hoping to build, claiming that they will enable “crazy new social experiences” and “virtual employees”.
The most important breakthrough over the next decade, he said, would involve radical new discoveries powered by AI.
“The thing that I think will be the most impactful in that five-to-10 year timeframe is AI will actually discover new science,” he said.
“This is a crazy claim to make but I think it is true, and if it is correct, then over time I think that will dwarf everything else.”
