OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman has claimed that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, offered signing bonuses of up to $100 million to OpenAI staff in an attempt to lure employees away from the artificial intelligence company.
Speaking in a recent interview, Altman said Meta made aggressive recruitment efforts targeting “a lot of people” at OpenAI, offering them extraordinary compensation packages.
“They were offering $100 million signing bonuses, more than that per year in total compensation,” Altman stated. “And none of our best people took them up on it.”
Altman attributed OpenAI’s staff loyalty to its mission-driven culture and sense of purpose, rather than financial incentives.
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His comments come amid intensifying competition in the AI industry, as major tech firms invest heavily in developing advanced models and platforms. Meta has recently increased its AI focus, including forming a new “superalignment” team and reportedly investing billions in scaling AI capabilities.
Altman also warned that excessive reliance on large financial incentives could harm the long-term culture of innovation in tech companies.
Meta has not publicly responded to the claims at the time of this report.
