As Mark Zuckerberg staffs up Meta’s new superintelligence lab, he’s provided prime tier analysis expertise 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 not less than 10 staggeringly excessive gives to OpenAI staffers, sources say. One excessive rating researcher was pitched on the function of chief scientist however turned it down, in keeping with a number of sources with direct data of the negotiations. Whereas the pay bundle contains fairness, within the first yr the inventory vests instantly, sources say.
“That’s about how a lot it could 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 licensed to talk publicly in regards to the firm. Different workers stated that they have been weighing the cash towards the potential impression they might have at Meta compared to OpenAI. A number of believed their impression 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 powerful sum that pales compared to the packages at the moment on supply. These within the pay band above this engineer (E7’s, in Meta phrases) make on common $1.54 million a yr, in keeping with consumer information submitted on Ranges.FYI.
Andrew Bosworth, chief know-how officer at Meta, stated that not everyone seems to be getting a $100 million supply throughout a Q&A with workers final week. “Look, you guys, the market’s scorching. It is not that scorching. Okay? So it is only a lie,” he stated. “We now have a small variety of management roles that we’re hiring for, and people folks do command a premium.” He added that the $100 million is just not a sign-on bonus, however “all these various things” and famous OpenAI is countering the gives.
As a degree of comparability, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, obtained $79.1 million in whole compensation in 2024, most of it in inventory, in keeping with a monetary submitting by the corporate. Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber, made roughly $39.4 million (once more, principally in inventory) the identical yr.
On Monday, Mark Zuckerberg despatched a notice to Meta employees introducing the brand new superintelligence group. Alexandr Wang, previously the CEO of Scale AI, is now Meta’s chief AI officer, Zuckerberg stated. 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 title a chief scientist or a chief analysis officer as a part of the announcement. Neither Wang nor Friedman are regarded as researchers, not less than within the conventional sense. Not one of the OpenAI staffers who left for Meta obtained the $300 million supply, in keeping with a supply with data of the contracts.
