OpenAI's Sam Altman Hints At Compensation Evaluation Amid Meta's 'Distasteful' AI Talent Poaching Spree: Report

Namrata Sen

July 02, 2025

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in an internal message to OpenAI researchers, reportedly emphasized the importance of staying with OpenAI and hinted at possible compensation evaluations.

What Happened: In a message to OpenAI researchers on Monday, Altman made a strong case for staying with OpenAI, reported Wired. He suggested that OpenAI is the best place for those looking to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) and hinted at possible compensation evaluations for the entire research organization.

Altman also criticized Mark Zuckerberg’s recruitment efforts, calling it “distasteful”. “..what Meta is doing will, in my opinion, lead to very deep cultural problems,” warned Altman.

He acknowledged that Meta has recruited some top talent but emphasized that they have struggled to attract their first-choice candidates, suggesting that many of their recruits are not fully committed to the company’s mission.

“Meta has gotten a few great people for sure, but on the whole, it is hard to overstate how much they didn’t get their top people.”

Altman then urged OpenAI researchers to remain with the company, expressing confidence in the organization’s research roadmap and its unique team and culture. He also emphasized OpenAI’s commitment to building AGI in a responsible manner, contrasting this with other companies’ instrumental approach to AGI.

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Mirror Tech Stocks Sell-Off As Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Passes Senate: Analyst Spots ‘Rare Warning’ For BTC – Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC) Common units of fractio

Why It Matters: Meta’s aggressive recruitment drive comes as part of a broader restructuring of the company’s AI division, aimed at developing advanced AI systems capable of outperforming humans. This move included the formation of Meta Superintelligence Labs, led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.

Several former OpenAI employees joined the team, prompting OpenAI's chief research officer, Mark Chen, to remark that it felt like "someone has broken into our home and stolen something.

However, the recruitment drive has been marred by controversy. OpenAI engineers Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai, who recently transitioned to Meta, refuted claims by Altman that they received a $100 million signing bonus.

Despite Meta’s efforts, OpenAI remains confident in its research roadmap and upcoming projects. Hyperbolic CTO Yuchen Jin recently stated that OpenAI’s upcoming open-source AI model outperforms existing ChatGPT options, suggesting that Meta may need time to catch up.

READ MORE: On The ‘Front Line’ Of China’s AI Ambitions: OpenAI Flags Zhipu AI As Rising Rival Backed By $1.4B State Funding

Image via Shutterstock

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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