Meta’s $100 Million AI Bait Faces Resistance as Anthropic, Others Hold Ground

Meta is stepping up its AI recruitment game with enormous compensation packages, reportedly offering up to $100 million to top talent in a bid to power its new “Superintelligence Team.” However, not all researchers are biting.

According to Anthropic’s top brass, many within their AI-focused teams are choosing purpose over pay.

Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei recently confirmed Meta’s lucrative outreach attempts, and Jared Kaplan, a key executive at the company, opened up about the intensity of the current hiring war in a podcast interview. While not naming companies directly, Kaplan referenced outsized offers that some of his colleagues have turned down. “My best-case scenario at Meta is we make money. My best case at Anthropic is that we affect the future of humanity,” he said.

Despite the eye-popping numbers, Meta has allegedly offered $100 million over four years per researcher, Kaplan noted that these deals may actually be “cheap” for the business given the value AI breakthroughs can generate. Still, he emphasized that many at Anthropic are mission-driven, prioritizing long-term impact over short-term financial gain.

Meta has already made high-profile moves in this space. In June, the company appointed Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang to lead its Superintelligence efforts and successfully recruited six researchers from OpenAI. These moves show Meta’s aggressive play to dominate next-generation AI.

Meanwhile, others in the industry are weighing in. Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity AI, said retaining talent requires more than money. While acknowledging the size of Meta’s offers as “surprising,” he also noted, “Failure is not an option” at that level of investment.

As the AI talent race intensifies, it’s becoming clear that for many researchers, the choice isn’t just about money—it’s about meaning.