Core Memory OpenAI's Research Chief On The Soup Wars, Poker And The Next Models - EP 46 Mark Chen
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Dec 1, 2025 
Mark Chen, Chief Research Officer at OpenAI, discusses the challenges of prioritizing research in a fast-paced AI landscape. He shares insights on the intense recruiting competition with Meta, including Zuckerberg’s unique soup deliveries to attract top talent. The conversation also delves into future AI models, particularly in response to Google's Gemini 3, and highlights Chen's competitive nature honed through coding contests. Additionally, he explains the critical focus on pre-training and how OpenAI aims to democratize scientific discovery.
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Soup As A Recruitment Tactic
- Mark Chen recounts talent poaching attempts, including Zuckerberg hand-delivering homemade soup to recruits.
- Chen also delivered soup to recruits and jokes about taking his team to a cooking class for offsites.
Run Research As A Prioritized Portfolio
- OpenAI maintains a 300-project inventory and ranks projects to allocate compute and communicate priorities.
- Chen says clear priorities must be reflected in verbal guidance and compute allocation to drive execution.
Say No Clearly To Focus Teams
- When you decline projects, communicate clearly which priorities will be funded and why.
- This prevents confusion and helps focus teams on the results that move the research program.