Meta’s $100M Talent War: The High-Stakes Race for Superintelligent AI in 2025

OpenAI was first out of the gate in the race to develop advanced artificial intelligence, and that early lead has made a big impact. But now, its biggest rivals are working overtime to catch up—pushing harder on innovation, pouring money into huge language models and infrastructure… and, maybe most dramatically, trying to steal each other’s smartest minds.

In June, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman made a bold statement that caught everyone’s attention: “We are past the event horizon; the takeoff has started. Humanity is close to building digital superintelligence.” He didn’t hold back. “OpenAI is a lot of things now, but before anything else, we are a superintelligence research company.”

That goal—reaching superintelligence, a level of AI that goes far beyond human thinking—has become the North Star for tech giants like Meta, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic. But they all know that without the right people, they won’t get there.

And that’s where things have gotten intense. Meta has kicked off what many are calling a full-blown talent war, aggressively trying to pull top engineers and researchers away from OpenAI, Apple, and others by offering jaw-dropping bonuses—some worth up to $100 million—and even bigger paychecks.

Meta’s $100M Talent War: The High-Stakes Race for Superintelligent AI in 2025

Key Takeaways:

Meta is shaking up Silicon Valley’s hiring scene, offering massive signing bonuses and huge salaries to pull in top minds from rivals like OpenAI and Apple.

OpenAI isn’t backing down, fighting fire with fire by hiring away talent from Meta and other competitors.

The real challenge now? Keeping these highly sought-after people from jumping ship again—because in this high-stakes race, a single move can mean millions.

Meta Forms New AI Dream Team with $100M+ Offers

Meta is going all in on artificial intelligence. According to an internal memo reported by Bloomberg, the company has launched a new group called Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) — and it’s pulling out all the stops to build a powerhouse team. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is personally leading the charge, driven by frustration over the company's slow pace in AI development.

“As AI moves faster and faster, the idea of building something close to superintelligence feels more real than ever,” Zuckerberg said in the memo. “This could mark the start of a whole new chapter for humanity — and I’m all in on making sure Meta leads the way.”

And he means business. Meta is reportedly offering jaw-dropping signing bonuses — up to $100 million — to lure top talent from competitors, especially OpenAI. In a recent podcast, OpenAI’s Sam Altman admitted:

“They’ve been throwing around these insane offers — $100 million just to sign, and even more in total yearly comp. It’s wild. Honestly, I’m just glad that, so far, none of our best people have taken the bait.”

But Meta isn't just handing out big checks. In June, the company invested over $14 billion to buy a 49% stake in Scale AI, a startup focused on data labeling for AI. The startup's former CEO, Alexandr Wang, who’s only 28, will now take on the role of Meta’s Chief AI Officer and lead the new MSL team.

Wang won’t be doing it alone. He’ll be joined by Nat Friedman, the former CEO of GitHub, and several other high-profile names in the AI space. In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), Wang shared his excitement:

“Couldn’t be more excited to be working with such an amazing team,” he wrote. “Here’s to building something truly extraordinary — towards superintelligence.”

Meta’s Big Move: Superintelligent AI Team Just Got a Lot Stronger

Meta has been on a serious hiring streak lately, pulling in some of the brightest minds in artificial intelligence—and it’s making waves across the tech world.

In a post that caught attention, Meta's Chief AI Scientist, Yaniv Wang, shared that 11 top-tier AI experts have just joined the company. Many of them helped build OpenAI’s powerful GPT-4o model—names like Trapit Bansal, Suchao Bi, Huiwen Chang, and Ji Lin. It’s a major get for Meta, especially with talent like Joel Pobar also coming back after 11 years (he recently worked at Anthropic). From DeepMind, both Jack Rae and Pei Sun are now part of the Meta family too.

There was a bit of drama as well. Three former OpenAI researchers—Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai—weren’t mentioned in Meta’s announcement. Lucas Beyer posted on X, saying it was due to some “technicalities.” That twist meant they missed out on Meta’s jaw-dropping $100 million signing bonuses.

Here’s a quick look at where these new hires came from:

Name	Former Employer
Johan Schalkwyk	Sesame AI
Alexandr Wang	Scale AI
Daniel Gross	Safe Superintelligence
Trapit Bansal	OpenAI
Suchao Bi	OpenAI
Huiwen Chang	OpenAI
Ji Lin	OpenAI
Hongyu Ren	OpenAI
Jiahui Yu	OpenAI
Shengjia Zhao	OpenAI
Lucas Beyer	OpenAI
Alexander Kolesnikov	OpenAI
Xiaohua Zhai	OpenAI
Jack Rae	Google DeepMind
Pei Sun	Google DeepMind
Nat Friedman	Github
Joel Pobar	Anthropic
Ruoming Pang	Apple

Another big catch? Meta just hired Ruoming Pang, who was leading AI work at Apple—yes, the same Apple that’s been lagging behind when it comes to AI. Pang’s new paycheck reportedly totals a mind-blowing $200 million, according to Bloomberg.

Before joining Apple, Pang worked at Google Brain. So, for Meta, it’s a huge win. For Apple? Not so much—especially as it continues struggling to evolve its aging Siri assistant and AI models.

AI Talent War Heats Up as Paychecks Get Bigger

Meta’s latest move has kicked off a fierce talent battle, as tech giants scramble to secure top AI minds—and they’re pulling out all the stops to do it.

In response, OpenAI has started aggressively recruiting from its competitors, poaching big names from rival teams. Among them: Angela Fan, who was building AI at Meta, and Uday Ruddarraju and Mike Dalton, both of whom were part of Elon Musk’s xAI. Even David Lau, who once led software engineering at Tesla, has joined the ranks at OpenAI, according to WIRED.

“After an unforgettable ride, I’ve decided to move on from xAI,” Ruddarraju shared on LinkedIn, hinting at the emotional weight behind the decision.

To keep its own people from walking out the door, OpenAI is reportedly taking a hard look at how it compensates employees—suggesting big changes could be coming soon.

But it's not just chasing established names anymore. OpenAI is opening the door for fresh talent through its six-month Residency program. It’s designed to help engineers and researchers from other fields shift into AI, offering them a chance to reshape their careers. The job comes with a solid $210,000 salary, according to the company’s website—more than enough to turn some heads.

The AI Talent War Is Heating Up as the Race to Superintelligence Accelerates

The fight for top AI minds is getting more intense by the day. With billions of dollars on the table and powerful tech giants in a race to reach superintelligence first, competition is fierce — and only growing.

Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder and former OpenAI board member, shared his thoughts with CNBC this week:

“To most people, the salaries in AI seem insane. It’s wild how much some individuals are being offered. But if you believe this one person might build something that could change entire industries… suddenly, the math starts to make sense.”

Still, there’s a catch. Some leaders are beginning to worry that throwing huge paychecks at talent might backfire in the long run. After all, money alone doesn’t build loyalty or culture.

On a podcast last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said:

“People look at companies like OpenAI and think, ‘They might actually pull this off — superintelligence — and maybe even become the most valuable company in the world.’ But if the main pitch to someone is just a massive guaranteed paycheck... and they’re not excited about the actual work or mission? That doesn’t build a healthy culture. I want us to be the best place in the world to do meaningful AI research — not just the best-paying one.”

Helen Toner, also a former OpenAI board member, told Bloomberg that Meta’s aggressive hiring strategy might not hold up. Even if they succeed in pulling top talent in, she warned, it won’t be easy keeping them.

“From day one, other companies will be trying to poach them back,” Toner said. “Meta has to prove they can move fast enough to keep those people excited and committed.”

That said, it’s not all tension and turf wars. Despite the intense pressure, the current moment is also filled with opportunity. Many AI experts know that no matter where they land, they’re in a position to shape the future — and they’ll be rewarded for it.

“There will be a lot of winners in this race — both among startups and the big players,” Hoffman said. “The only question is who wins bigger, and who wins a little less.”

The Bottom Line

Meta has raised the stakes in Silicon Valley, offering eye-popping deals — some worth hundreds of millions — to lure top AI talent away from rivals in its bid to achieve Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and ultimately, superintelligence.

That puts pressure on the rest of the pack: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Apple — all of them are now scrambling not just to hire great minds, but to hold onto the ones they’ve already got.

As the dream of superintelligence starts to feel within reach, the real arms race isn’t only about technology — it’s about people. And for the engineers and researchers at the center of it all, this could be the most impactful (and lucrative) moment of their lives.