Bidding Wars for AI's Top Talent Would Make an NBA Star Blush

The bidding war for artificial intelligence talent is looking less like a job market and more like NBA free agency, minus the salary cap. Take 24-year-old Matt Deitke, per the New York Times: Meta dangled an initial offer of $125 million in cash and stock to recruit him from his AI startup. When that didn't work, Mark Zuckerberg himself upped the ante to $250 million over four years, reportedly with up to $100 million arriving in just the first year. Deitke, after seeking advice from peers, decided to take the deal.

It's just one example of the current AI hiring frenzy, with tech's biggest players—Meta, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and even Apple—outbidding each other for a tiny pool of AI experts who can build "superintelligence." Compensation packages now rival or exceed those given to top NBA stars. (Steph Curry's latest contract? A cool $35 million short of Deitke's new deal.) Recruiters are acting like sports agents, and some researchers are even forming group chats to trade offer details and strategy, hoping to drive up their value.

The market has seen a marked shift since OpenAI's ChatGPT splash in 2022 turbocharged the AI arms race. The shortage of researchers who can work with large-scale AI systems has made those who can nearly priceless. Companies are sweetening offers with not just sky-high pay but also rare computing resources—like thousands of high-powered GPUs—plus the chance to build a dream team of colleagues.

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Not everyone is buying in. Some researchers are passing on Meta, for example, citing an unclear vision on AI. "Is any one person really worth $200 million?" Kurt Wagner asks for Bloomberg. "Just because something can be justified doesn't mean it's a good decision, and only time will tell whether Meta, Google, and others look back on this spending spree with a twinge of regret." He concludes: "I imagine this gold rush will be short-lived," citing the fact that more people will eventually become more skilled in AI, helping with the hiring pool supply, as well as that "the whole premise of AI technology is that it will eventually drive the bus on its own."