The recruitment commitments arise as OpenAI prepares to offer shares held by current employees, estimating the company’s value at an impressive $80 billion to $90 billion
OpenAI is reportedly enticing top researchers from Google with substantial pay packages, reaching up to $10 million (over Rs 83 crore), as per The Information. This marks OpenAI’s ongoing efforts to attract talent from Google, particularly senior researchers within its AI teams. The promised annual compensation, primarily in the form of stock, ranges from $5 million to $10 million, with OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, personally urging key Google AI researchers to consider joining the organization.
According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI is planning to sell shares held by existing employees, estimating the company’s value at an impressive $80 billion to $90 billion. If individuals join OpenAI before the share sales are finalized, they stand to benefit from potential stock appreciation, with the valuation expected to triple, resulting in a potential 300% increase in share value, along with the possibility of receiving significant stock grants later.
OpenAI’s revenue streams primarily derive from $20-a-month subscriptions to ChatGPT Plus and the sale of its AI models to developers and businesses. With Microsoft investing billions and owning approximately half of OpenAI, the partnership provides the San Francisco-based company with substantial cloud computing power for training and testing its models.
Despite the broader tech industry experiencing layoffs in 2023, companies are heavily investing in AI model development. Anthropic, another San Francisco AI startup, recently secured significant investments from Amazon and Google, both of which had undergone substantial workforce reductions in the previous year.
OpenAI is strategically positioning itself as a major player in the AI industry, evident in its October leasing of 486,600 square feet of office space from Uber in San Francisco’s Mission Bay. However, noteworthy is the bidirectional talent movement, with some employees transitioning from OpenAI to Google, indicating the nascent stages of talent wars between these companies.
