Meta Clarifies: AI Researchers Receive Multi-Million Pay Packages, Not $100M Signing Bonuses

Meta is indeed offering substantial multi-million-dollar compensation packages to attract AI researchers to its new Superintelligence Lab, but the hype around $100 million signing bonuses is largely exaggerated. During a company-wide meeting on Thursday, leaked to The Verge, Meta’s executives addressed these claims head-on. Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, indicated that while such sums might be considered for very senior leadership roles, they are not universal. “The actual terms of the offer aren’t a sign-on bonus. It’s all these different things,” he explained, suggesting that the compensation includes a mix of salary, stock options, and other incentives. Tech companies often structure large pay packages with restricted stock units (RSUs) that vest over time, tied to either tenure or performance metrics. A four-year total compensation package of around $100 million for a top-tier executive is not unrealistic for Meta, given that many of its own named officers, including Bosworth, have earned annual compensation ranging from $20 million to almost $24 million. However, Bosworth clarified, “Altman was suggesting that we’re doing this for every single person. Look, you guys, the market’s hot. It’s not that hot.” On Thursday, Lucas Beyer, a prominent AI researcher, confirmed his departure from OpenAI to join Meta, along with two others who led OpenAI’s Zurich office. Beyer tweeted, “1) Yes, we will be joining Meta. 2) No, we did not get 100M sign-ons; that’s fake news.” While declining to provide further details about his new role to TechCrunch, Beyer’s statement underscores the distinction between the exaggerated claims and the actual offers. Meta’s focus in the AI space is on entertainment applications, rather than productivity. This aligns with the company’s existing investments in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, such as the Quest VR headsets and its AI-enhanced Oakley and Ray-Ban glasses. Despite the lack of $100 million signing bonuses, Meta is undeniably making significant investments to secure top AI talent. For instance, TechCrunch reported that Meta has hired Trapit Bansal, a renowned AI researcher known for his work on reasoning models. Bansal joined Meta after spending less than a year at OpenAI. The market for AI talent remains intensely competitive, and Meta’s efforts reflect this reality. One investor shared with TechCrunch that they witnessed an AI researcher receive an $18 million offer from Meta, which was subsequently declined in favor of a smaller, but still lucrative, offer from Thinking Machines Lab, a startup led by Mira Murati. While the $100 million figure might be more applicable to specific individual deals, like the one for Scale AI’s co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang, it doesn’t represent the typical offer to researchers. The $14 billion Meta invested for a 49% stake in Scale AI will be distributed to shareholders as a cash dividend, and Wang, as a major shareholder, stands to benefit significantly from this arrangement. In summary, while Meta is certainly willing to invest heavily in securing top AI talent, the claims of widespread $100 million signing bonuses are overstated. The company’s strategic hiring and investment decisions are aimed at staying competitive in a rapidly evolving and high-stakes field.