LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman defended the eye-watering compensation packages being offered to top AI talent, saying the seemingly irrational spending makes economic sense when considering the potential industry impact of breakthrough research.
"The talent race to your average American looks crazy. The amount of money you're paying individuals in order to do this," Hoffman said in a CNBC interview at the Sun Valley conference Wednesday, acknowledging public skepticism about AI hiring practices.
The comments come as Meta has successfully poached at least seven OpenAI researchers with packages reportedly reaching $300 million over four years, sparking fierce criticism from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman who called the recruitment tactics "distasteful."
Hoffman says economic rationale drives extreme compensationHoffman, a former OpenAI board member, argued that massive signing bonuses become economically rational when companies believe individual researchers could revolutionize entire industries. "If you invent the thing that essentially, for example, in my own startup Manas, is trying to cure cancer, transforms industries, and if you think this individual is the one to do it, then it begins to get more economic rational," he told CNBC.
The AI talent war has intensified as companies race to gain competitive advantages in artificial intelligence development . Meta recently invested $15 billion in data-labeling firm ScaleAI, with CEO Alexandr Wang joining as Meta's Chief AI Officer to co-lead the company's new Superintelligence Labs alongside former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.
OpenAI executives are against the big pay packagesFormer OpenAI board member Helen Toner warned that Meta's aggressive recruitment strategy faces immediate challenges, predicting "attempts to poach them back to other companies starting on day one." She emphasized that Meta must demonstrate they're "moving fast enough" to retain their expensive new hires.
Altman has pushed back against Meta's compensation-first approach, arguing that "missionaries will beat mercenaries" while dismissing claims that his employees received $100 million signing bonuses as exaggerated.
"The talent race to your average American looks crazy. The amount of money you're paying individuals in order to do this," Hoffman said in a CNBC interview at the Sun Valley conference Wednesday, acknowledging public skepticism about AI hiring practices.
The comments come as Meta has successfully poached at least seven OpenAI researchers with packages reportedly reaching $300 million over four years, sparking fierce criticism from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman who called the recruitment tactics "distasteful."
Hoffman says economic rationale drives extreme compensationHoffman, a former OpenAI board member, argued that massive signing bonuses become economically rational when companies believe individual researchers could revolutionize entire industries. "If you invent the thing that essentially, for example, in my own startup Manas, is trying to cure cancer, transforms industries, and if you think this individual is the one to do it, then it begins to get more economic rational," he told CNBC.
The AI talent war has intensified as companies race to gain competitive advantages in artificial intelligence development . Meta recently invested $15 billion in data-labeling firm ScaleAI, with CEO Alexandr Wang joining as Meta's Chief AI Officer to co-lead the company's new Superintelligence Labs alongside former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.
OpenAI executives are against the big pay packagesFormer OpenAI board member Helen Toner warned that Meta's aggressive recruitment strategy faces immediate challenges, predicting "attempts to poach them back to other companies starting on day one." She emphasized that Meta must demonstrate they're "moving fast enough" to retain their expensive new hires.
Altman has pushed back against Meta's compensation-first approach, arguing that "missionaries will beat mercenaries" while dismissing claims that his employees received $100 million signing bonuses as exaggerated.
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