OpenAI & Anthropic Salaries in 2025: AI Startup Pay Revealed
▼ Summary
– Tech companies are aggressively competing for a limited pool of AI and technical talent, offering high salaries, perks, and equity.
– Salaries for technical roles in AI are exceptionally high, with OpenAI staff earning up to $530,000 and Anthropic engineers up to $690,000 annually.
– Salary data comes from H-1B visa filings, which companies must submit when hiring foreign workers, revealing otherwise guarded compensation details.
– The reported salaries exclude additional benefits like stock options and bonuses, which can significantly increase total compensation.
– Business Insider analyzed filings from top AI startups valued over $2 billion, excluding robotics, defense, and autonomous driving sectors.
The competition for top AI talent has reached unprecedented levels, with salaries at leading startups soaring into the high six figures. Tech companies are locked in a fierce battle to secure the brightest minds in artificial intelligence, offering compensation packages that dwarf traditional industry standards. While humanities graduates may lament their career choices, those with expertise in machine learning and engineering are commanding staggering paychecks.
OpenAI and Anthropic, two of the most prominent players in the AI space, are setting the benchmark for compensation. Federal filings reveal that technical staff at OpenAI can earn up to $530,000 annually, while research engineers at Anthropic take home as much as $690,000. Even outside these elite firms, software engineers at billion-dollar startups routinely pull in $250,000 or more, before accounting for equity, bonuses, and other incentives that can significantly boost total earnings.
These figures come from mandatory disclosures tied to the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. companies to hire skilled foreign workers. Since tech firms rarely disclose salary details voluntarily, these filings offer a rare glimpse into their compensation structures. While the reported numbers reflect base pay alone, additional benefits like stock options and signing bonuses often push total compensation far higher.
The data highlights the immense value placed on AI expertise as companies race to develop cutting-edge technologies. Beyond OpenAI and Anthropic, other high-growth startups, including Cohere, Glean, and Thinking Machines Lab, are also offering lucrative packages to attract top-tier talent. For those with the right skills, the rewards have never been greater.
As demand for AI specialists continues to surge, the gap between technical and non-technical roles widens. While not everyone can pivot into machine learning overnight, the trend underscores the growing dominance of AI in shaping the future of work, and the premium placed on those who can drive innovation in this space.
(Source: Business Insider)
