Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has launched an aggressive hiring campaign to build a top-tier AI superintelligence team. Led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and located near Zuckerberg’s office, the team aims to compete with leading AI labs.
Reports reveal Meta offered compensation packages exceeding $100 million to some AI researchers at OpenAI and Google DeepMind, hoping to attract elite talent.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed these recruitment attempts during a podcast with his brother, Jack Altman. Despite the lucrative offers, Altman said none of OpenAI’s best researchers had accepted Meta’s proposals.
He credited OpenAI’s culture of innovation and the shared mission of achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI) as reasons why top talent chose to stay. Altman expressed skepticism about Meta’s emphasis on financial incentives over mission-driven work, suggesting it may hinder building a strong innovative culture.
Attempts to Poach Star Researchers
Meta reportedly targeted key individuals such as OpenAI lead researcher Noam Brown and Google DeepMind’s AI architect Koray Kavukcuoglu. Both recruitment efforts were unsuccessful.
Altman noted that Meta’s AI initiatives have so far not met expectations, although he acknowledged respecting the company’s broader work. He stressed that in AI, catching up isn’t enough — companies must lead with genuine innovation.
Alongside hiring efforts, Meta recently invested heavily in Scale AI, Alexandr Wang’s former company, and has secured talents like Jack Rae (Google DeepMind) and Johan Schalkwyk (Sesame AI).
However, with OpenAI, Anthropic, and DeepMind pushing forward rapidly, Meta faces stiff competition. OpenAI is anticipated to launch an open AI model soon, potentially widening Meta’s challenge in the AI race.
Altman described a vision of AI-driven social media feeds tailored to user preferences rather than traditional algorithmic feeds, signaling OpenAI’s interest in entering social networking.
Meta is also experimenting with an AI-powered social app, Meta AI, but early user feedback has been mixed, with some confusion over its hyperpersonal chat features.
What The Author Thinks
This episode shows that in cutting-edge fields like AI, big paychecks alone don’t guarantee success in talent acquisition. A strong, mission-focused culture and belief in meaningful innovation are just as important, if not more so. OpenAI’s ability to retain top researchers despite Meta’s lavish offers highlights the value of purpose over pure financial gain. For Meta to close the gap, it will need more than just dollars — it must inspire and empower its teams to lead the future of AI.
Featured image credit: TechCrunch via Flickr
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