Right now on Decoder we’re going to speak concerning the struggle for AI expertise. Proper now, the most popular job market on the planet is for AI researchers.
The overwhelming majority of those persons are concentrated right into a small variety of vastly worthwhile, extraordinarily fast-growing corporations within the San Francisco Bay Space. These days, such corporations are paying among the highest salaries within the historical past of the tech business to poach researchers from each other.
It looks like each time one among these AI researchers leaves one firm for an additional, they inform us precisely why. Generally they’re merely resigning to go be a poet. Generally they’re chasing a mission. Generally they’re anxious that AI goes to imperil humanity, destroy all jobs, and plunge the world into chaos.
They’re actually saying this stuff. They’re publishing these notes on X, in weblog posts, or within the case of 1 former OpenAI security researcher by writing a full New York Occasions op-ed.
I’ve been dying to actually dig in and attempt to unpack what’s occurring with all these expertise strikes in AI. So my visitor at present is Verge senior AI reporter Hayden Area, who’s been masking the revolving door of the AI business actually carefully and likewise the broader tradition that’s motivating the AI staff to leap ship and the businesses which might be ruthlessly attempting to rent them.
These motivations differ. Positive, all these persons are paid extravagant salaries, however as you’ll hear Hayden say, a stronger motivating pressure is ideology and mission. The individuals engaged on AI, by and huge, consider that what they’re doing goes to transform the world, and so they’re not likely in determined want of extra money. So that actually modifications the motivation constructions which may push individuals to go away, say, OpenAI for Anthropic, or to give up Elon Musk’s xAI now that it’s been acquired by SpaceX.
On the similar time, the incentives of the AI corporations themselves are going from elevating cash to earning profits. Reporting suggests OpenAI and possibly even Anthropic may go public this yr, and doing so would create a historic quantity of wealth. It will additionally put new sorts of stress on these corporations to be extra clear about how they spend cash and to be way more accountable for returning on the massive investments that they’ve raised thus far.
There’s loads on this dialog. The AI business proper now is stuffed with drama. There’s huge characters, bitter rivalries, plenty of cash, and actually, actually lengthy weblog posts concerning the finish of the world.
Should you’d wish to learn extra about what we mentioned on this episode, take a look at these hyperlinks:
Questions or feedback about this episode? Hit us up at decoder@theverge.com. We actually do learn each e mail!
