Rs 850 crore as signing bonus for an IT job? Yes. Sam Altman says rivals are trying to poach OpenAI staff with astronomical salaries

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has revealed that rival tech giant Meta is attempting to lure away his top talent with massive financial incentives—reportedly offering signing bonuses as high as $100 million (approximately Rs 850 crore). Altman made the disclosure during a podcast hosted by his brother Jack Altman, where he discussed the increasingly competitive landscape in artificial intelligence recruitment.

Altman said that Meta has been reaching out to several members of the OpenAI team with aggressive compensation packages that include not just hefty signing bonuses but additional annual remuneration that exceeds those figures. Despite these enormous offers, he noted that so far, none of OpenAI’s core researchers or engineers have accepted the proposals.

Why the Bidding War Matters

Meta’s strategy comes amid a larger push to strengthen its AI division. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, recently invested $14 billion to acquire a 49% stake in Scale AI—a startup that previously worked closely with OpenAI on fine-tuning ChatGPT models. This move underlines Meta’s ambition to advance in the AI race, which is increasingly seen as central to global technological dominance.

Industry analysts say such enormous compensation packages reflect how critical elite AI researchers have become. According to Forrester’s principal analyst, the tech sector views a small group of highly skilled engineers as a crucial edge in gaining dominance over AI systems, making talent acquisition a high-risk, high-reward game.

Culture Over Compensation

While acknowledging Meta’s aggressive recruitment tactics, Altman stressed that the culture at OpenAI plays a bigger role in retaining staff. He believes that OpenAI’s mission—to create artificial superintelligence that surpasses human capabilities—is a key factor in why employees choose to stay.He argued that while large financial incentives can tempt people in the short term, they don’t build sustainable workplace environments. Instead, he credits OpenAI’s cohesive culture and long-term vision as the reasons why top talent continues to stay committed.Altman also shared his perspective on Meta’s innovation capabilities. While he said he respects the company’s competitiveness, he doesn’t believe Meta excels in groundbreaking innovation. In contrast, he positioned OpenAI as being further ahead in its mission to develop truly transformative AI systems.

AI as the New Tech Frontier

The ongoing rivalry highlights how tech giants are investing unprecedented resources into AI. Earlier this year, OpenAI announced plans to allocate $500 billion toward building new data centers in the U.S., underlining the scale of its infrastructure ambitions.

Analysts say the fierce competition stems from a broader belief that AI is on the verge of revolutionizing every industry—from healthcare to finance.

As major players like Meta, OpenAI, Google, and DeepMind vie for dominance, the AI space has turned into a battleground where compensation, mission, and innovation intersect.