Altman Says Meta Offered $100 Million Bonuses to Poach OpenAI Talent
June 19, 2025 — San Francisco
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has claimed that Meta offered signing bonuses of up to $100 million in a bid to recruit top OpenAI employees, as the competition for elite AI talent intensifies across the tech industry.
Speaking on the Uncapped podcast hosted by his brother, Altman said Meta approached “a lot of people” on the OpenAI team with massive compensation packages. “They started making giant offers… $100 million signing bonuses, even more in total annual compensation,” Altman said. “So far, none of our best people have decided to take them up on that.”
According to CNBC and Reuters, these efforts are part of Meta’s push to expand its artificial intelligence strategy and build a superintelligence unit. The move follows Meta’s recent $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI and the hiring of its CEO, Alexandr Wang, to lead the new division. Meta also acquired a 49% stake in Wang’s company as part of the deal, and several Scale AI employees are expected to join Meta.
Altman noted that Meta views OpenAI as its biggest rival in the AI space. “I’ve heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor,” he said.
Meta, which was once a frontrunner in open-source AI models, has faced internal challenges, including staff departures and delays in releasing new systems designed to compete with offerings from Google, OpenAI, and China’s DeepSeek.
Meta has not responded to requests for comment, and Reuters was unable to independently verify Altman’s claims.
The fierce competition for artificial intelligence engineers underscores the growing belief that top individual contributors can significantly impact the direction and success of AI development.
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