Meta Offers Multi‑Million AI Pay, No $100M Bonus

Meta is offering AI researchers multi-million-dollar packages but denies widespread $100 M signing bonuses, per internal leaks and new hire statements

Meta is undoubtedly providing substantial multi-million-dollar compensation incentives to AI researchers to attract them to its newly established Superintelligence Lab.

However, a poached researcher and comments from a leaked internal meeting suggest that the $100 million “signing bonus” is not being received by anyone.

Some of Meta’s top executives were questioned about the incentives that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed Meta had offered top researchers during a company-wide all-hands meeting on Thursday that was leaked to The Verge.

Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, suggested that only a few individuals in highly senior leadership positions may have received such compensation.

However, he clarified that the “actual terms of the offer” were not a “sign-on bonus.” It comprises an assortment of distinct entities. In other words, it is not an immediate sum of money.

Most of the compensation that technology companies provide to senior executives is in the form of restricted stock unit grants (RSUs), contingent upon either tenure or performance metrics.

A four-year total remuneration package valued at approximately $100 million for a highly senior leader is not implausible for Meta. For years, most of Meta’s named officers, including Boswell, have received a total compensation of $20 million to nearly $24 million annually.

Bosworth reportedly stated during the meeting that Altman was “insinuating that we are conducting this for every individual.” “Look, you all, the market is brisk.” It is not exceedingly humid. (When we requested a comment, Meta did not respond promptly.)

Lucas Beyer, a researcher at OpenAI, announced on Thursday that he would be departing the organization to join Meta and the two other individuals who served as directors of OpenAI’s Zurich office. He tweeted, “1) Indeed, we will be participating in Meta.” 2) We did not receive 100 million sign-ons; this is false information.

Beyer declined to provide additional information regarding his new position to TechCrunch in a polite manner.

Beyer’s area of expertise is artificial intelligence (AI) in computer vision. Bosworth reportedly stated in that meeting that this is consistent with Meta’s objective of developing entertainment AI instead of productivity AI.

Meta has already established a presence in that sector through its Quest VR headsets and Ray-Ban and Oakley AI spectacles.

Nevertheless, some individuals deserve substantial compensation in the competitive AI talent market that Meta is attempting to attract. TechCrunch was the first to disclose that Meta has hired Trapit Bansal, an AI reasoning model pioneer at OpenAI. Since 2022, he has been employed by OpenAI.

Certainly, Alexandr Wang, the CEO and co-founder of Scale AI, is receiving a substantial sum of money, presumably exceeding $100 million, as part of Meta’s agreement to acquire 49% of his company.

Meta is distributing the $14 billion and paying shareholders as a cash dividend, as previously stated. It is almost certain that Wang is a significant shareholder in Scale who is entitled to receive those dividends.

Nevertheless, Meta is not distributing $100 million randomly; instead, it is investing significantly in recruiting AI professionals.

According to a single investor who disclosed the information to TechCrunch, an AI researcher declined a $18 million employment offer from Meta. The individual in question accepted a more modest offer from a prominent AI startup, Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab.