OpenAI is revisiting its compensation structures following the departure of eight researchers to Meta’s AI division.  

According to Wired, OpenAI chief research officer Mark Chen addressed the issue in an internal message, acknowledging the growing anxiety among staff.  

He assured employees that the leadership, including CEO Sam Altman, are “around the clock to talk to those with offers,” adding, “we have been more proactive than ever before, we are recalibrating comp, and we are scoping out creative ways to recognise and reward top talent”. 

The recruitment activity by Meta has been described by Chen as a violation, likening it to a break-in.  

Allegedly Meta’s recruitment efforts have been aggressive, with Zuckerberg personally reaching out to potential recruits.

The competition for AI researchers in Silicon Valley is intensifying, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly offering $100m signing bonuses to some OpenAI staffers.  

A source close to Meta’s efforts confirmed to Wired that the company is ramping up its research recruitment, targeting talent from OpenAI and Google.  

While Anthropic is also a competitor, it is considered less of a culture fit at Meta. 

OpenAI and Meta did not respond to Wired’s requests for comments.  

Chen’s internal note included messages from several other research leaders, encouraging staff to remain with the company.  

The intense workload at OpenAI, with some staff working 80-hour weeks, has been acknowledged.  

To address this, OpenAI plans to shut down next week to allow employees to recharge, although executives will continue working. 

Chen highlighted that Meta might use this downtime to pressure employees into making quick decisions.  

Despite the challenges, OpenAI remains focused on its long-term goal of achieving artificial general intelligence.  

Chen emphasised the importance of not getting caught up in short-term comparisons with competitors and staying focused on the broader objective. 

He said the company is getting “too caught up in the cadence of regular product launches and in short-term comparison with the competition”. 

“We need to remain focused on the real prize of finding ways to compute (a lot more supercomputers are coming online later this year) into intelligence,” he wrote.  

“This is the main quest, and it’s important to remember that skirmishes with Meta are the side quest.”