Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is pulling out all the stops to build a world-class “superintelligence” team—offering some of the most lucrative compensation packages ever seen in tech. Meta has extended offers worth up to $300 million over four years to leading AI researchers, many from competitors like OpenAI. Some packages reportedly included over $100 million in the first year alone, with perks like immediate stock vesting, a rare and powerful incentive in Silicon Valley.
Zuckerberg isn’t just offering cash. In a field where access to powerful compute is a dealbreaker, he has promised recruits abundant GPU resources, a sore point for OpenAI staff who have complained internally that Sam Altman failed to deliver on similar promises, as reported.
Though some of these compensation figures are disputed, the scale of Meta’s recruiting push is undeniable. Meta has already hired at least 11 top-tier researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic. Among the most notable are Trapit Bansal (co-creator of OpenAI’s o-series models), Shuchao Bi (involved in GPT-4o’s voice systems), and Huiwen Chang (who led generative image tools at Google Research).
Despite internal pushback, several sources confirmed that senior engineers at Meta are now earning in the ballpark of $850,000 annually. However, not all of the reported figures have gone unchallenged. “These statements are untrue – the size and structure of these compensation packages have been misrepresented all over the place,” said one OpenAI researcher who received an offer. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone echoed this, noting that some claims had been “greatly exaggerated.”
At a company-wide meeting, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth responded to the frenzy: “Look, you guys, the market’s hot. It’s not that hot. Okay?” He clarified that $100 million packages were only for a small number of senior leadership hires and were “not a sign-on bonus – it’s all these different things.”
Meta’s ambitions were formalized this week with the launch of Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), a new division focused on building artificial general intelligence (AGI). Former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang was named Meta’s first Chief AI Officer and will co-lead MSL with Nat Friedman, ex-CEO of GitHub.
The aggressive recruiting has clearly rattled competitors. OpenAI’s Mark Chen described the situation as feeling “as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something.” Sam Altman also accused Meta of dangling “$100 million signing bonuses” in front of his team—before adding, “none of our best people have decided to take them up on that.”
Bosworth fired back, calling Altman’s remarks dishonest: “Because we are succeeding at getting talent from OpenAI.”
Regardless of the exact numbers, Zuckerberg’s message to top AI talent is clear: Come to Meta, and you’ll never lack for compute—or compensation.
