Meta vs. Altman: Personal Clashes in the AI Power War
Meta and OpenAI’s battle for top AI talent just got a lot messier.
During an all-hands meeting this week, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth didn’t hold back when asked about Sam Altman’s viral claim that Meta was throwing around “$100 million signing bonuses” to poach OpenAI employees.
“Sam is just being dishonest here,” Bosworth told the room. “He’s acting like we’re offering that to everyone. Look, the market’s hot, it’s not that hot.”
The remark was a direct response to Altman’s comments on his brother’s podcast, which instantly sparked memes about Meta writing giant checks to lure AI engineers. Bosworth said the reality is far less dramatic: only a handful of senior leaders in Meta’s new superintelligence division have been approached with big packages and even then the numbers aren’t as straightforward as Altman made them sound.
“What Sam neglects to mention is that he’s countering all these offers, creating a small market for a very, very small number of people,”
Bosworth added.
“Of course, he’s not mentioning the actual terms, it’s not just a sign-on bonus.”
He didn’t stop there. Bosworth teased that more OpenAI staff are already on the way to Meta. Sam is known to exaggerate, and I know exactly why he’s doing it,
He said,
“We’re succeeding at getting talent from OpenAI. He’s not very happy about that.”
Meta Shifts Focus Away from ChatGPT Rivalry
Meta CPO Chris Cox also weighed in admitting that while Meta AI tools reach a massive audience of one billion users monthly, people aren’t engaging with them nearly as deeply as they do with ChatGPT. Their standalone Meta AI app, he said, has just 450,000 daily users, many mainly using it to control their Ray-Ban smart glasses.But Cox said Meta isn’t trying to clone ChatGPT. Instead, the company plans to lean into what it does best: making AI fun and social rather than just a work tool. We’re not going to obsess over productivity,
Cox said.
“We’re going to focus on entertainment, connection, and all the things that make Meta unique.”
The gloves are clearly off. With both sides trading barbs and racing to hire the brightest minds this AI showdown is only getting more personal.
Schema Selected:
