The race for dominance in the field of artificial intelligence has entered a new, fierce phase – a talent war between the two main competitors, Meta and OpenAI. As reported on July 3, 2025, by leading business and tech publications, including Axios, Wired, and Business Insider, both companies have launched an unprecedented campaign to poach key researchers and engineers from each other. Industry sources report that compensation packages offered to top specialists to switch sides are reaching astronomical sums, calculated in the tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars over several years. These packages include high base salaries, bonuses, and most importantly, significant equity in the form of company stock (RSUs), which is the main incentive. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly personally involved in the process, sending emails and conducting interviews with the most valuable candidates from OpenAI, which underscores the highest strategic priority of this task for the company. This battle for talent has particularly intensified following Metas recent reorganization and the creation of its ambitious Superintelligence Labs. To staff this project, Meta needs the best minds in AI, and its main competitor is the primary source for them. The talent war clearly demonstrates that the main and most scarce resource in the race for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is not so much computational power, but the extremely limited pool of world-class scientists capable of making real breakthroughs. This phenomenon not only inflates industry salaries to sky-high levels but also creates serious risks of instability for research teams.
Talent War: Meta and OpenAI Poach Researchers with Multi-Million Dollar Offers
