Synopsis
A quarterly bonus for two years was awarded to researchers and software engineers in the firm's applied engineering, scaling, and safety domains. Altman informed that the rise in compensation was a result of market dynamics, likely driven by the demand for AI talent.
AgenciesOpenAI is reportedly granting retention bonuses to one-third of its workforce, nearly 1,000 employees, The Information announced on Friday.
The bonuses, spanning from the low hundreds of thousands to several million dollars, are aimed at employees in technical research and engineering positions. Their denominations will be decided based on employee performance, experience and role. Employees will have the option to receive the payouts in either cash or equity, with the stock awards vesting quarterly over two years.
The report added that the move aligns with the company's efforts to retain top technical talent amid heightened competition in the sector.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman reiterated on Friday that the AI talent race has reached unprecedented levels, calling it âthe most intense talent marketâ of his career.
âThis is the most intense talent market I have seen in my career,â Altman said. While several possess the requisite talent, âthereâs intense competition for about a very small number of people right now â itâs like 200.â
Rush for AI talent
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman criticised the approach of some firms during an interview with CNBC, claiming that they are chasing only a few âshiny namesâ.
On the ongoing AI talent war, he said only a few individuals globally have the skills to make the algorithmic breakthroughs needed to achieve superintelligence, adding that there are only a âmedium-sized handful of peopleâ capable of figuring them out.
Altman noted that the high demand for elite AI researchers stems from the vast economic value they can generate, particularly as firms like OpenAI continue to invest billions in compute and infrastructure.
Meta has been on a hiring spree in recent weeks, poaching talent from OpenAI. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been aggressively building the team behind Meta Superintelligence Labs, allegedly offering bonuses of up to $100 million and long-term packages totalling as much as $300 million over the next three to four years.
GPT-5 enters the fray
OpenAI launched the much-awaited GPT-5 on Thursday, calling it the smartest and most capable version of its artificial intelligence models to date. The company says the new model is more accurate, more efficient, and has significantly lower hallucination rates compared to previous versions.
GPT-5 is now being gradually rolled out to ChatGPT Plus, Pro users, and Team plans across web, mobile, and desktop platforms. It will soon be available to Enterprise and Education plan users as well.
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