Meta Lands OpenAI Researchers Amidst AI Talent War: Zuckerberg's Strategy Pays Off?
Wow, the battle for AI talent is really heating up! I'm following the news, and it sounds like Meta just scored a major victory. Even though OpenAI's Sam Altman has kind of poked fun at Mark Zuckerberg's aggressive recruiting style, Meta managed to snag three OpenAI researchers.
These aren't just any researchers, mind you. Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai, were instrumental in establishing OpenAI's Zurich office. Now, they're on board with Meta's superintelligence team. That's a pretty big deal! It kind of suggests that Zuckerberg's tactics, which have been widely reported, might actually be working.
Apparently, Zuck has been pulling out all the stops. I heard that Altman mentioned Zuckerberg was offering some insane compensation packages to lure top AI folks away from OpenAI. We're talking over $100 million! And I mean, who wouldn't at least consider that, right? It was mentioned that Zuckerberg has been personally reaching out to AI researchers, using WhatsApp and even hosting dinners at his homes to try and win them over.
While it sounds like Zuckerberg has landed some notable names, like Scale AI’s CEO Alexandr Wang, it's not a clean sweep. Some of the really big fish, like OpenAI co-founders Ilya Sutskever and John Schulman, seem to have slipped through his fingers. They decided to start their own thing instead. I think that’s amazing and shows that money is not everything.
I remember hearing Altman say that none of OpenAI's best people had taken Zuckerberg up on his offers...at least at the time. This new development definitely throws a wrench in that narrative. So, while Zuckerberg may not be winning every battle, it's clear he's serious about building a world-class AI team at Meta.
Source: TechCrunch