Meta Refutes $100 Million AI Signing Bonus Claims as Talent War Intensifies; Safe Superintelligence CEO Joins Meta

Meta Platforms is aggressively pursuing top artificial intelligence talent, a strategy that has sparked widespread discussion regarding compensation packages and prompted a notable executive move. Reports, including a social media post by Steve Faktor, suggested Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was offering "life-changing $100M signing bonuses" to attract AI engineers. However, Meta and some newly hired researchers have refuted these specific figures for signing bonuses, clarifying that such amounts represent multi-year total compensation packages for a select few leadership roles.

Meta's Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, stated that while the market for top AI talent is competitive, the $100 million figure as a sign-on bonus is an exaggeration. These lucrative offers, which can reach up to $300 million over four years for top-tier individuals, are part of Zuckerberg's push to establish Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). This new unit aims to develop "superintelligence," or AI systems capable of outperforming human cognitive abilities.

The talent acquisition drive has seen Meta successfully recruit several high-profile researchers from rivals, including OpenAI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously claimed Meta was offering "giant offers" to his staff, leading OpenAI's Chief Research Officer Mark Chen to express frustration, saying it felt "as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something." In response, OpenAI is reportedly recalibrating its own compensation structures to retain talent.

The intense competition also extends to new AI ventures. Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and former chief scientist of OpenAI, launched Safe Superintelligence (SSI) with Daniel Gross and Daniel Levy, aiming for a "straight shot to safe superintelligence." SSI, which was recently valued at $32 billion after securing $2 billion in funding, emphasizes AI safety, a concern echoed by Faktor's tweet regarding the catastrophic potential of even small inaccuracies in critical AI systems.

Despite Meta's previous attempts to acquire SSI, the company instead successfully recruited SSI's CEO, Daniel Gross, and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, to join Meta's burgeoning AI efforts. Following Gross's departure, Ilya Sutskever has assumed the CEO role at Safe Superintelligence, reaffirming the company's commitment to its singular mission. This ongoing talent reshuffling underscores the high stakes and rapid evolution within the artificial intelligence industry.