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According to a report from ijiwei, citing The Wall Street Journal, the battle for top talent among AI companies is intensifying. Recently, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg launched a large-scale poaching attempt targeting Thinking Machines Lab, the startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. However, the effort ultimately failed.
The report notes that Zuckerberg’s main target was Andrew Tulloch, a leading AI researcher who had previously spent years at Meta and contributed to the development of OpenAI’s GPT-4 series. He was reportedly offered a highly lucrative package: a USD 1 billion salary, with bonuses and stock options bringing the total to USD 1.5 billion over six years.
As the report highlights, Thinking Machines Lab recently closed a USD 2 billion seed funding round, setting a new record in the AI sector. The company is now valued at USD 12 billion. According to ijiwei, this may have been a key factor in Tulloch’s decision to stay with the startup.
Despite the failed attempt to recruit from Thinking Machines Lab, Zuckerberg has continued aggressively pursuing top AI talent. As reported by Hindustan Times, Meta recently offered a USD 250 million compensation package to 24-year-old AI researcher Matt Deitke. According to The New York Times, Deitke initially declined a USD 125 million offer over four years, prompting Zuckerberg to meet with him personally and double the offer to USD 250 million.
Meta has been ramping up its AI development efforts. Last month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that former OpenAI researcher Shengjia Zhao will lead research at the company’s newly established AI division, Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). According to TechCrunch, Zhao will set the research direction for MSL under the leadership of Alexandr Wang, the former Scale AI CEO recently brought on to head the new unit.
The AI Talent War Escalates Across Big Tech: Microsoft, Google, and Beyond
Meta isn’t the only company actively hiring AI talent. According to CNBC, sources say Microsoft has recruited around two dozen employees from Alphabet’s Google DeepMind in recent months. Notably, Amar Subramanya—a 16-year Google veteran who most recently served as VP of Engineering for the Gemini assistant—announced on LinkedIn that he has joined Microsoft AI as a corporate vice president, CNBC reports.
Meanwhile, last month, as noted by Reuters, Google revealed it had hired several key staff from AI code generation startup Windsurf. These include CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and several members of the company’s research and development team, all of whom will join Google’s DeepMind AI division. Shortly after these hires, AI startup Cognition announced its acquisition of Windsurf, according to CNBC.
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(Photo credit: Meta)
