As Mark Zuckerberg staffs up Meta’s new superintelligence lab, he’s supplied prime tier analysis expertise pay packages of as much as $300 million over 4 years, with greater than $100 million in complete compensation for the primary yr, WIRED has realized.
Meta has made a minimum of 10 staggeringly excessive provides to OpenAI staffers, sources say. One excessive rating researcher was pitched on the position of chief scientist however turned it down, in response to a number of sources with direct data of the negotiations. Whereas the pay package deal consists of fairness, within the first yr the inventory vests instantly, sources say.
“That’s about how a lot it will take for me to go work at Meta,” says one OpenAI staffer who spoke with WIRED on the situation of anonymity as they aren’t licensed to talk publicly in regards to the firm. Different workers mentioned that they had been weighing the cash in opposition to the potential influence they might have at Meta compared to OpenAI. A number of believed their influence could be better at OpenAI.
“These statements are unfaithful – the scale and construction of those compensation packages have been misrepresented in all places,” says Meta spokesperson Andy Stone. “Some folks have chosen to tremendously exaggerate what’s occurring for their very own functions.”
A senior engineer who spoke to WIRED confirmed their pay was round $850,000 per yr at Meta—a powerful sum that pales compared to the packages presently on provide. These within the pay band above this engineer (E7’s, in Meta phrases) make on common $1.54 million a yr, in response to consumer information submitted on Ranges.FYI.
Andrew Bosworth, chief know-how officer at Meta, mentioned that not everyone seems to be getting a $100 million provide throughout a Q&A with workers final week. “Look, you guys, the market’s scorching. It is not that scorching. Okay? So it is only a lie,” he mentioned. “We now have a small variety of management roles that we’re hiring for, and people folks do command a premium.” He added that the $100 million just isn’t a sign-on bonus, however “all these various things” and famous OpenAI is countering the provides.
As some extent of comparability, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, acquired $79.1 million in complete compensation in 2024, most of it in inventory, in response to a monetary submitting by the corporate. Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber, made roughly $39.4 million (once more, largely in inventory) the identical yr.
On Monday, Mark Zuckerberg despatched a observe to Meta employees introducing the brand new superintelligence staff. Alexandr Wang, previously the CEO of Scale AI, is now Meta’s chief AI officer, Zuckerberg mentioned. He’s joined by Nat Friedman who beforehand led GitHub. Collectively, Wang and Friedman will colead a company Zuckerberg dubbed the Meta Superintelligence Labs. The corporate didn’t identify a chief scientist or a chief analysis officer as a part of the announcement. Neither Wang nor Friedman are considered researchers, a minimum of within the conventional sense. Not one of the OpenAI staffers who left for Meta acquired the $300 million provide, in response to a supply with data of the contracts.
