Meta is actively pursuing top artificial intelligence researchers, offering multi-million-dollar compensation plans to attract talent for its new Superintelligence Lab. Despite earlier rumors, no candidate has received a direct $100 million signing bonus, according to company executives and recently hired staff.
Reports of such immense bonuses began circulating after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly claimed that Meta was attempting to lure professionals away with massive signing incentives. Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth addressed these claims during a recent all-hands meeting, clarifying that compensation packages are indeed generous but structured differently. “It’s all these different things,” he explained, referring primarily to the heavy weighting towards restricted stock units (RSUs) and performance-driven incentives, rather than immediate upfront cash payments.
While a total four-year compensation of approximately $100 million isn’t entirely out of reach for Meta—many senior company officers, including Bosworth himself, regularly earn annual compensation ranging between $20 million and $24 million—such sums are reserved for particularly senior leadership roles rather than standard hires.
Bosworth took issue with Altman’s implication that such enormous bonuses were commonplace. “The market’s hot, but not that hot,” he reportedly clarified to Meta staff.
The accuracy of Bosworth’s statements was reinforced by Lucas Beyer, one of the researchers who recently departed OpenAI for Meta. Beyer explicitly contradicted Altman’s suggestion in a public tweet, stating firmly: “No, we did not get a $100 million sign-on; that’s fake news.” Beyer and two colleagues who left OpenAI’s Zurich office are known for their expertise in computer vision AI, an area aligned closely with Meta’s strategic ambitions in entertainment-driven AI solutions.
Indeed, Meta has demonstrated a willingness to invest considerable resources in attracting elite AI talent. Recent hires have included renowned OpenAI researcher Trapit Bansal, notable for his influential work on AI reasoning models. Additionally, Meta’s significant $14 billion purchase of a 49% stake in Scale—rewarding founder Alexandr Wang handsomely—highlights the high stakes in attracting experienced technology leaders.
Even so, competitiveness in the AI talent market remains intense. One venture investor disclosed witnessing an $18 million offer from Meta which was ultimately turned down in favor of a smaller but high-profile offer from Mira Murati’s prominent startup, Thinking Machines Lab.
In short, Meta is clearly prepared to pay premium compensation to secure top-tier AI experts, but the widely rumored $100-million signing bonuses are, by all accounts, exaggerations rather than reality.
