OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed on June 17 during a YouTube show (Uncapped) hosted by his brother Jack Altman that Meta spent over $100 million in signing bonuses to poach OpenAI engineers. However, he emphasized that not a single one of their strongest core talents has left. Almost at the same time, OpenAI successfully signed a $200 million pilot contract with the U.S. Department of Defense, entering the defense AI market, with competition between the two tech giants intensifying.
Meta's high-priced poaching of OpenAI employees aims to build an AI 'superintelligence' team.
Altman described Meta's poaching attempts as simply crazy and revealed they offered $100 million to poach their engineers, with potential annual salaries even higher. He added that Meta has made quite attractive offers to several OpenAI employees, but so far, not a single core or top talent has left.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has even personally recruited to build an AI superintelligence team, recently investing $14.3 billion in the AI company Scale AI and successfully poached its CEO Alexandr Wang to join his own AI superintelligence team.
According to reports, Meta has successfully poached talent from several well-known tech companies, including Google DeepMind's chief researcher Jack Rae, with recruitment efforts spanning the entire tech industry.
On the left is Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, and on the right is Google DeepMind's chief researcher Jack Rae. Altman insinuates that for Meta, true innovation is not just about throwing money.
Regarding Meta's poaching efforts, Altman stated that Meta views OpenAI as its biggest competitor, which he respects. However, he pointed out that despite Meta's aggressive investments and willingness to experiment, he believes they still lack true innovation capabilities.
Altman also provided his views on why these individuals rejected Meta's high-paying offers, saying:
If work becomes solely about money, rather than passion or a sense of mission, building such a corporate culture carries significant risks. I believe we understand many things that Meta still does not.
OpenAI turns around to secure a $200 million AI contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.
In less than a day, OpenAI announced it had signed a one-year, $200 million pilot contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to assist the military in testing AI technology for administrative and cybersecurity operations, which is also the first major project of OpenAI's newly established department 'OpenAI for Government.'
Officials stated that the department has integrated previously scattered government collaboration projects, including ChatGPT Gov, projects with NASA, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and the Treasury Department.
The focus of this collaboration is to streamline military medical administrative processes, prevent cyberattacks, and enhance operational efficiency. OpenAI previously collaborated with defense tech company Anduril to develop an AI anti-drone system and brought in former national security officials to join its policy team and board, actively expanding its influence in the defense and government AI sectors while emphasizing adherence to democratic values and public interest.
This article on OpenAI blocking Meta's multi-million poaching efforts while signing a $200 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.