Meta’s talent war raises strategy probe

MARK Zuckerberg and Meta are spending billions to recruit top artificial intelligence talent, triggering debates about whether the aggressive hiring spree will pay off in the competitive generative AI race.

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently complained that Meta has offered $100 million bonuses to lure engineers away from his company, where they would join teams already earning substantial salaries.

Several OpenAI employees have accepted Meta’s offers, prompting executives at the ChatGPT maker to scramble to retain their best talent.

“T feel a visceral feeling right now, as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something,” chief research officer Mark Chen wrote in a Saturday Slack memo obtained by Wired magazine.

Chen said the company was working “around the clock to talk to those with offers” and find ways to keep them at OpenAl.

Meta’s recruitment drive has also landed Scale AI founder and former CEO Alexandr Wang, a Silicon Valley rising star, who will lead a new group called Meta Superintelligence Labs, according to an internal memo, whose content was confirmed by the company.