Meta’s multi-million dollar heist of top talents from OpenAI and other rivals, including Google DeepMind, is earning both brickbats and bouquets for Mark Zuckerberg’s ruthless poaching. Uptil now Meta has poached at least 44 top AI techies, with a majority of them (7) from Sam Altman-led OpenAI.
Former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang is leading the new team at Meta. Ruoming Pang, former head at Apple’s Foundational Model, was also poached into the fold. Unsubstantiated rumors have it that Zuckerberg hired the techies for millions, with the ex-Apple employee Ruoming Pang paid more than Apple’s CEO Tim Cook.
Sam Altman, in his recent remark over Meta’s poaching, stated that “Winning is fun and I expect to win.” He dubbed the competition as “war cry” and Mark Zuckerberg’s approach as “mafioso poaching style.” He further remarked, “I mean, you know, they want to get into the AI game. I understand it. So, and if he’s going to do this, he needs to hire some people. So, bring it.”
Seems like Sama needs to go through his own tweets from the recent past for further motivation. Here are a few
Sports-inspired thought that gets lost in business: Always assume your competitors are smart and will do smart things. (Feb 5, 2018)
It’s so fun when a company is doing far better than external perception and everyone who works there has the shared secret of knowing they are going to crush it. (Aug 16, 2022)
You’ll be competing with a lot of talented and hard-working people if you choose an interesting frontier. Progress happens at the very limit of capabilities and effort.(April 10, 2022)
Meanwhile, Google DeepMind’s CEO and Nobel laureate AI scientist Demis Hassabis in a recent podcast, remarked on Meta’s poaching, “There are more important things than just money”. He added, “Of course, one has to pay people their market rates and all of these things, and that contimnues to go up.” He also said, “Meta right now is not at the frontier; maybe they’ll manage to get back on there.”
Is Meta’s AI #poaching justified?
DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis says it’s a “rational” move for a firm lagging behind.
Read the full story to see why he thinks Meta’s strategy makes sense. #AI #Meta #google #hiring I @rishabh21s https://t.co/VN5jM9jnwI
— Business Standard (@bsindia) July 27, 2025
Sports-inspired thought that gets lost in business:
Always assume your competitors are smart and will do smart things.
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 4, 2018
it’s so fun when a company is doing far better than external perception and everyone who works there has the shared secret of knowing they are going to crush it
— Sam Altman (@sama) August 16, 2022
You’ll be competing with a lot of talented and hard-working people if you choose an interesting frontier.
Progress happens at the very limit of capabilities and effort.
— Sam Altman (@sama) April 10, 2022
See Also: ‘Someone Broke Into Our Home And Stole’ OpenAI Reacts To Meta Poaching Top Talents; Company To Give Week Off To Recharge
See Also: Amid More OpenAI Techies Being Poached By Meta, Mark Zuckerberg Downplays Paying Millions: ‘Mostly Inaccurate’
See Also: OpenAI Poaches AI Techies From Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, And Elon Musk’s Tesla, xAI; Internet Jibes ‘Reverse Uno’
Cover: Patrick Gawande / Mashable India