Sam Altman’s big claim: OpenAI staff turned down Meta’s $100 million offers

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, allegedly offered staggering bonuses and salary packages worth over $100 million in an aggressive bid to lure top talent from OpenAI, according to Sam Altman, CEO of the ChatGPT maker.

Speaking on theUncapped podcast hosted by his brother Jack Altman, the OpenAI chief revealed that Meta approached several members of his team with "giant" compensation offers, including hefty annual salaries and bonuses. Despite the lucrative nature of these offers, Altman said that none of OpenAI’s top talent had taken up Meta's proposition.

“It is crazy,” said Altman. “I'm really happy that at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take them up on that.”

Altman further claimed the offers were made to "a lot of people" within the company, but stressed that OpenAI’s mission-driven culture continues to resonate more deeply with its team than pure financial incentives.

Meta has yet to respond publicly to the remarks.

The tech giant, helmed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has poured billions into artificial intelligence in recent years as it races to catch up with competitors such as OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. In January, Zuckerberg announced plans to invest at least $60 billion in AI development in 2025 alone.

In a significant development last week, Meta reportedly struck a deal valued at over $10 billion with Scale AI, a firm that labels data for training AI systems. As part of that agreement, Scale AI’s founder and CEO, Alexandr Wang, is set to join Meta to bolster its efforts in the realm of superintelligence.

Altman, however, was sceptical of Meta’s approach. Comparing the two companies, he remarked, “OpenAI has a much better shot at delivering on superintelligence.”

He also criticised Meta’s recruitment strategy, suggesting that generous financial packages alone aren’t enough to foster a strong work environment. “I think the strategy of a ton of upfront guaranteed comp and that being the reason you tell someone to join... I don't think that's going to set up a great culture,” he said.

(With inputs from AFP)