As Mark Zuckerberg staffs up Meta’s new superintelligence lab, he’s supplied prime tier research talent pay packages of as much as $300 million over 4 years, with greater than $100 million in whole compensation for the primary yr, WIRED has realized.
Meta has made at the least 10 staggeringly excessive presents to OpenAI staffers, sources say. One excessive rating researcher was pitched on the function of chief scientist however turned it down, based on a number of sources with direct information of the negotiations. Whereas the pay package deal contains fairness, within the first yr the inventory vests instantly, sources say.
“That’s about how a lot it might take for me to go work at Meta,” says one OpenAI staffer who spoke with WIRED on the situation of anonymity as they aren’t approved to talk publicly concerning the firm. Different staff mentioned that they have been weighing the cash in opposition to the potential affect they might have at Meta compared to OpenAI. A number of believed their affect could be higher at OpenAI.
“These statements are unfaithful – the dimensions and construction of those compensation packages have been misrepresented far and wide,” says Meta spokesperson Andy Stone. “Some folks have chosen to tremendously exaggerate what’s occurring for their very own functions.”
A senior engineer who spoke to WIRED confirmed their pay was round $850,000 per yr at Meta—a formidable sum that pales compared to the packages at present on supply. These within the pay band above this engineer (E7’s, in Meta phrases) make on common $1.54 million a yr, according to user data submitted on Levels.FYI.
Andrew Bosworth, chief know-how officer at Meta, mentioned that not everyone seems to be getting a $100 million supply throughout a Q&A with staff final week. “Look, you guys, the market’s sizzling. It is not that sizzling. Okay? So it is only a lie,” he mentioned. “We’ve got a small variety of management roles that we’re hiring for, and people folks do command a premium.” He added that the $100 million will not be a sign-on bonus, however “all these various things” and famous OpenAI is countering the presents.
As a degree of comparability, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, obtained $79.1 million in whole compensation in 2024, most of it in inventory, based on a financial filing by the corporate. Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber, made roughly $39.4 million (once more, largely in inventory) the identical yr.
On Monday, Mark Zuckerberg despatched a be aware to Meta workers introducing the brand new superintelligence group. Alexandr Wang, previously the CEO of Scale AI, is now Meta’s chief AI officer, Zuckerberg mentioned. He’s joined by Nat Friedman who beforehand led GitHub. Collectively, Wang and Friedman will colead a corporation Zuckerberg dubbed the Meta Superintelligence Labs. The corporate didn’t identify a chief scientist or a chief analysis officer as a part of the announcement. Neither Wang nor Friedman are regarded as researchers, at the least within the conventional sense. Not one of the OpenAI staffers who left for Meta obtained the $300 million supply, based on a supply with information of the contracts.
