TechCheck Musk, Altman rivalry escalates with new OpenAI hire 9/16/25
Sep 16, 2025
Joining the discussion is Mackenzie Sigalos, a savvy tech reporter who dives into the fierce rivalry between Elon Musk and Sam Altman. They unravel the significance of OpenAI's recent hiring of Mike Liberatore, the former xAI CFO, as a strategic move amid escalating tensions. The conversation explores how this shift could reshape the AI landscape, impacting salaries and talent dynamics. With the stakes so high, the battle for top-tier talent in AI has never been more intense!
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Talent Poaching As Strategic Weapon
- OpenAI hired Mike Liberatore from XAI to lead AI infrastructure finance, signaling aggressive talent poaching.
- The move highlights talent acquisition as a central battleground alongside compute and data centers.
Leadership Attrition At XAI
- XAI lost several senior leaders this summer, including a general counsel and co-founder Igor Babushkin.
- Those departures thinned Elon Musk's leadership bench and intensified the rivalry with OpenAI.
Pay Packages Driving AI Competition
- Firms are dangling huge NBA-style pay packages and equity to secure scarce AI expertise.
- Compensation inflation is driven by competition for talent as much as by spending on GPUs and cloud capacity.