Mark Zuckerberg has bet big on AI after his colossal failure with the metaverse and has set up Meta’s Superintelligence Labs where he has hired talent from rival firms by offering them compensation beyond their wildest imagination. Looking at the sheer figures, such as a $200 million signing bonus for Apple’s former head of foundation models, it would hardly be surprising for anyone to turn down this kind of money.
Whether Meta has near-limitless cash to throw around, or something else, Google’s DeepMind CEO believes that the social media giant’s motivation for poaching talent from competitive AI entities is that they are behind in the artificial intelligence race and it needs to do something about it.
Some researchers believe that the company’s mission is more important than filling their pockets, as not everyone has accepted Meta’s multi-million-dollar offers
On an episode of the ‘Lex Fridman’ podcast, Business Insider reports that Demis Hassabis, Google’s DeepMind head, has a simple reason for why Meta is throwing around insane signing bonuses to new hires, while also mentioning that from the latter’s perspective, it is a rational move.
“Meta right now are not at the frontier, maybe they'll they'll manage to get back on there. It’s probably rational what they're doing from their perspective because they're behind and they need to do something.”
At Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, a leaked employee list revealed that out of 44 people currently a part of this division, half of them are of Chinese origin, while 40 percent have left their positions at OpenAI to join the new team. While it is completely understandable that due to the deviation of priorities, some employees will resign from their positions in search of greener pastures, others are more focused on the company’s position, which, in the majority of cases, is making AI less dangerous.
Anthropic’s co-founder Benjamin Mann says that Meta attempted the same tactic on its employees, and while he does not blame anyone who accepted those offers, he says his members did not entertain those pocket-filling signing bonuses because they are mission-oriented. Mann also says that the $100 million offers are ‘pretty cheap’ because the value being created will be worth billions.
Google DeepMind has a contingency in place that prevents employees from jumping ship to companies like Meta. In April, we reported that the company’s staff in the U.K. are subject to non-compete clauses, meaning that they cannot work for a competitor for up to 12 months after they depart from Google, boosting their employee retention rate.
News Source: Business Insider
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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