OpenAI reportedly ‘recalibrating’ compensation in response to Meta hires

With Meta successfully poaching a number of its senior researchers, an OpenAI executive reportedly reassured team members Saturday that company leadership has not “been standing idly by.”

“I feel a visceral feeling right now, as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something,” Chief Research Officer Mark Chen wrote in a Slack memo obtained by Wired.

In response to what appears to be a Meta hiring spree, Chen said that he, CEO Sam Altman, and other OpenAI leaders have been working “around the clock to talk to those with offers,” and they’ve “been more proactive than ever before, we’re recalibrating comp, and we’re scoping out creative ways to recognize and reward top talent.”

Over the past week, various press reports have noted eight researchers who departed OpenAI for Meta. Altman even complained on a podcast that Meta was offering “$100 million signing bonuses,” a description that Meta executives have pushed back against internally.