Meta is undoubtedly offering a massive multi-million-dollar salary package to AI researchers when pleading with the new Superintelligence Lab. However, no one actually received a $100 million “signature bonus” according to comments from poached researchers and leaked internal meetings.
During all company-wide hand meetings on Thursday, some of Meta’s top executives were asked about the bonuses Openai CEO Sam Altman said Meta had offered to top researchers.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth implies that only a few people are offered in very advanced leadership roles, but the “actual terms of the offer” was not a “sign-on bonus.” In other words, it’s not a chunk of cash right away. High-tech companies typically rely on either tenure or performance metrics to provide the largest chunk of pay to senior leaders of Restricted Equity Unit (RSU) grants.
A four-year total pay package worth around $100 million for a very advanced leader is unthinkable for Meta. Most Meta’s nominated executives, including Bosworth, earn total compensation of between $20 million a year and nearly $24 million a year.
“It was suggesting that we were doing this for each and every one,” Bosworth said at the meeting. “Look, guys, the market is hot. It’s not too hot.” (Meta did not respond immediately to requests for comment.)
On Thursday, researcher Lucas Beyer confirmed he was away from the open to join the meta with two other people who led the Open’s Zurich office. He tweeted: “1) Yes, we’re joining the meta. 2) No, we didn’t get a 100m sign-on, that’s fake news.” (Beyer politely refused to comment further on his new role against TechCrunch.)
Beyer’s expertise lies in Computer Vision AI. That coincides with what Meta is pursuing: entertainment AI rather than productivity AI, Bosworth said at the meeting. Meta has already made a bet on the ground in that area, featuring Quest VR headsets and Ray-Ban and Oakley AI glasses.
Still, some people in Meta actually deserve a big pay package in this tight AI talent marketplace. When TechCrunch first reported, Meta hired Openai’s Trapit Bansal, known for its groundbreaking work in AI Reasoning Models. He has been working for Openai since 2022.
Indeed, Scale co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang has probably earned over $100 million in healthy cash chunks as part of a meta deal that buys 49% ownership of his company. As previously reported, what the $14 billion Meta is paying is distributed to shareholders as cash dividends. Wang is arguably a major shareholder of the size that is entitled to those dividends.
Still, Meta hasn’t handed out a $100 million will, but is still spending a lot of money hiring with AI.
One investor told TechCrunch he saw an AI researcher get a $18 million job offer from Meta and turn it down. The person took a smaller but healthier offer from a bustling AI startup: Mira Murati’s Thinking Machine Lab.
