OpenAI Awards Top Employees Multimillion-Dollar Bonuses
▼ Summary
– OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a “special one-time award” for researchers and engineers in key teams, aiming to retain talent amid market competition.
– Bonuses range from hundreds of thousands to single-digit millions, based on role and seniority, and will be paid quarterly over two years.
– OpenAI is preparing to let employees sell vested stock, potentially at a higher valuation than the recent $300 billion mark.
– The company faces intense competition for AI talent, with key researchers leaving for Meta, xAI, and rival startups like Thinking Machines.
– The bonus excludes some employees, risking internal discontent, but morale remains high following GPT-5’s successful launch.
OpenAI is rewarding its top technical talent with multimillion-dollar bonuses ahead of its highly anticipated GPT-5 launch, signaling the intense competition for elite AI researchers in Silicon Valley. CEO Sam Altman announced the surprise compensation package in an internal Slack message, framing it as both a recognition of past contributions and an incentive to retain key personnel driving the company’s artificial general intelligence (AGI) ambitions.
The one-time awards target roughly 1,000 employees, primarily researchers, engineers, and safety specialists, with payouts scaling based on seniority and impact. Top-tier researchers could receive bonuses reaching into the mid-seven-figure range, while engineers typically qualify for six-figure sums. Payments will be distributed quarterly over two years, with flexibility to take the bonus as cash, OpenAI equity, or a combination.
This unprecedented move comes as OpenAI battles aggressive recruitment efforts from rivals like Meta and Elon Musk’s xAI. The loss of ChatGPT co-creator Shengjia Zhao to Meta’s AI division reportedly stung leadership, with executives likening the talent raids to a “home invasion.” Meanwhile, former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati has drawn away technical staff for her new venture, Thinking Machines.
The bonus structure notably excludes non-technical teams, potentially creating internal friction despite the company’s recent valuation surge. OpenAI’s upcoming tender offer could value the firm at $500 billion, nearly double its $300 billion appraisal earlier this year, giving employees holding vested stock substantial liquidity opportunities.
Employees celebrated the GPT-5 rollout at a San Francisco sports bar following Thursday’s launch event, though the lavish bonuses underscore a broader reality: retaining AI expertise now demands extraordinary financial incentives as the industry’s talent wars escalate. While Altman has publicly dismissed competitors as “mercenaries,” OpenAI’s latest compensation strategy reveals just how high the stakes have become.
(Source: The Verge)
