The Great AI Talent Heist: Meta Poaches, OpenAI Pauses

In a plot twist that could only happen in the fevered world of Silicon Valley, OpenAI—the darling of generative AI and the company that gave us ChatGPT—recently slammed the brakes on its own operations. The reason? Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s ever-hungry social media behemoth, has been luring OpenAI’s top minds with signing bonuses that make even seasoned VCs choke on their oat milk lattes. Rumors swirl of offers ranging from $10 million to a jaw-dropping $100 million just to jump ship. In response, OpenAI’s leadership did something no one expected: they told almost everyone to take a week off. Executives, of course, kept working—presumably to figure out how to stop the bleeding.

If you’re wondering whether this is a sign of thoughtful crisis management or a company in existential panic, you’re not alone. Welcome to the AI talent wars, where the stakes are measured in billions, and the drama is as thick as the NDAs.

The Poaching War: Meta’s Billion-Dollar Bait

Let’s not mince words: Meta is on a hiring spree that makes the 1990s dot-com bubble look quaint. Over the past quarter, insiders report that Meta has been targeting OpenAI’s elite engineers and researchers with offers that are, frankly, obscene. According to multiple sources, including a widely-circulated podcast appearance by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta’s recruitment packages have included signing bonuses in the $10 million to $100 million range.