Marketplace Tech The AI talent wars have begun
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Jul 22, 2025 Natasha Mascarenhas, a tech reporter at The Information, dives deep into the AI talent wars. She unpacks Meta's aggressive hiring spree, where researchers are lured with offers exceeding hundreds of thousands of dollars. The fierce competition isn't just limited to Meta; tech giants like Google and OpenAI are also intensifying their strategies with staggering compensation, sometimes reaching up to $100 million. Additionally, Mascarenhas discusses the challenges startups face while vying for talent in this high-stakes environment filled with rapid change.
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Explosive AI Talent Market
- AI talent is being aggressively poached with deals reaching $100 million or more per researcher.
- This reflects the extremely high stakes companies place on acquiring top AI expertise today.
Intense AI Talent Retention Efforts
- Tech giants give extensive perks like retention bonuses and even time off to retain AI talent.
- This shows how critical and competitive talent retention has become in AI.
Direct CEO Poaching in AI
- One of OpenAI's top AI researchers left to join Meta's superintelligence team amid the talent war.
- CEOs like Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg are personally reaching out to recruits to secure top talent.