OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that Meta Platforms Inc. has been making aggressive moves to attract OpenAI employees by offering staggering signing bonuses—some as high as $100 million. Speaking on Uncapped, a podcast hosted by his brother Jack Altman, the AI leader called the offers “crazy” and pointed to a growing rivalry in the artificial intelligence space.

“They started making giant offers to a lot of people on our team,” Altman said in the episode released Tuesday. “You know, like $100 million signing bonuses, more than that in compensation per year. So far, none of our best people have decided to take them up on that.”

While acknowledging Meta's growing ambitions in AI, Altman emphasized that innovation and mission-driven culture—not just money—keep top talent grounded at OpenAI.

“There are many things I respect about Meta as a company,” he noted, “but I don’t think they’re a company that’s great at innovation.” He warned that oversized compensation without a strong sense of purpose could shift focus away from meaningful work. “I think we understand a lot of things they don’t,” Altman added.

This development follows Meta’s recent announcement of a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, a key player in data labelling for AI model training. Meta also onboarded Alexandr Wang, founder of Scale AI, to spearhead its newly formed “superintelligence” division. This elite team, personally overseen by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, aims to position Meta at the forefront of the AI race.

In its ongoing recruitment push, Meta has reportedly poached several top minds from competitors, including Jack Rae, a former principal researcher at DeepMind.

Despite this aggressive talent grab, OpenAI appears to be holding its ground. Altman maintained that a shared sense of purpose and the opportunity to work on groundbreaking innovation continue to be powerful motivators for his team.

As the AI arms race accelerates, it’s clear that the battle for brains is heating up—and for now, OpenAI isn’t backing down.