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US govt likely collateral damage in Zuckerberg's talent raid at OpenAI
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is shaking up the artificial intelligence domain with a massive, unprecedented recruitment drive that is not only targeting OpenAI's top talent but also making it even harder for the US government to build its own tech bench.
Zuckerberg is offering mind-boggling compensation packages, sometimes exceeding $100 million in the first year alone to lure leading AI researchers from OpenAI and other companies. Over four years, total payouts could soar to $300 million, as reported by WIRED. These are not just high salaries, they rival the kind of money usually reserved for star athletes or major start-up valuations.
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The campaign culminated this week with Zuckerberg unveiling Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), his new elite AI division. The Meta founder has personally courted potential hires at his residences in Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe. His most high-profile recruit so far is Alex Wang, co-founder of Scale AI, who will serve as Meta's Chief AI Officer. Former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman will lead product and applied AI development. Eleven other top-tier hires were listed in an internal memo.
Why it matters
Zuckerberg's all-out raid is dramatically inflating AI compensation and intensifying a talent war already underway in Silicon Valley. The ripple effect is particularly damaging for the U.S. government, which was already struggling to compete for AI expertise. With tens of millions now easily attainable in private industry, public service becomes a much harder sell.
Meanwhile, Chinese tech firms are quickly gaining ground, supported by their government's ability to direct top talent into state projects. A recent Wall Street Journal report warned that China's AI models from companies like DeepSeek and Alibaba—are rapidly gaining traction across Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Backdrop and implications
Zuckerberg's hiring spree is part of a larger strategic pivot, reminiscent of his earlier move to shift Facebook's focus to mobile. Then, he bought Instagram and WhatsApp to catch up. Now, instead of acquiring companies, he's betting on individuals.
It's a bold move—but not without risk. Meta has spent heavily developing its large language model, Llama, to catch up with ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. But The Wall Street Journal notes that Meta's track record in generative AI has made some recruits hesitant.
Still, Zuckerberg sees the opportunity clearly. OpenAI has projected massive growth—$10 billion in annual revenue already, with targets of $125 billion by 2029 and $174 billion by 2030. Anthropic, another OpenAI spinoff, is on a $4 billion annual revenue pace. For Meta, the payoff of dominating this sector could be trillions in long-term gains.
Altman's response
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the aggressive poaching attempt, telling employees that Meta did manage to hire 'a few great people' but largely missed out on OpenAI's top talent. In a Slack message, he commented, 'Missionaries will beat mercenaries,' stressing that OpenAI's strength lies in its mission-driven culture.
He also pointed out on a recent podcast that OpenAI's financial model rewards success with strong long-term incentives, aligning innovation with economic gain.
The broader concern
This highly public bidding war reflects an underlying AI arms race that's now impacting national interests. For government agencies, the challenge is existential. They're increasingly priced out of a market where the world's biggest corporations treat top researchers like venture-backed unicorns. And without major reforms or incentives, Uncle Sam may be left watching from the side-lines.
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