You know that mastering AI skills can translate into a hefty salary bump.
But how hefty?
According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta Platforms (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and other social-media time-wasters) is offering signing bonuses “as high as $100 million” to OpenAI’s top AI researchers if they’ll jump teams. Altman made the claim during an episode of the Uncapped podcast.
Meta “started making these, like, giant offers to a lot of people on our team,” Altman claimed. “You know, like, $100 million signing bonuses, more than that [in] compensation per year.” He also insisted that none of OpenAI’s “best people” had decided to take the offer.
Meta has successfully poached top AI researchers from Google and other companies, according to Bloomberg. It has also invested $29 billion for a sizable stake in Scale AI, which provides data labeling and model evaluation services for a variety of clients, including the U.S. government and Google.
If Altman’s claim is accurate, what’s behind Meta’s decision to offer individual AI experts the compensation equivalent of a Marvel movie’s budget? It’s clear at this juncture that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sees AI as an existential issue for his company and the tech industry, and he’s willing to pay for the best talent to ensure Meta will win that battle. Many in Silicon Valley believe that a winning AI team will develop artificial general intelligence, an AI entity with superhuman smarts.
Even if you’re not an OpenAI employee actively pursued by Zuckerberg, you can still profit enormously from the current AI craze. According to the most recent Dice Tech Salary Report, professionals responsible for designing, developing, or implementing AI solutions command salaries roughly 18 percent higher than their peers not involved in AI work. In addition, professionals involved in AI initiatives report notably higher job satisfaction compared to their counterparts, even when controlling for salary levels.
Nor do you need to become a highly specialized researcher or model-trainer to benefit from the current AI environment. Mastering prompt engineering and the latest coding tools can help speed up many tech professionals’ productivity… and potentially their happiness. Expand on your AI skillset from there, and you could end up making millions—although maybe not $100 million.
