Meanwhile, Meta Platforms Inc. is implementing a hiring freeze after a coordinated campaign earlier this year to woo rival AI talent away from competitors. Following weeks of hostile poaching, the company decided to act, once and for all. They did this by directly courting top researchers and engineers, tempting them away with enormous pay packages that went up to nine figures.
The hiring freeze went into effect last week, though it’s unclear for how long. To this end, Meta created programs to lure more than 50 AI engineers from competing firms. They allegedly promised as much as $100 million to lure the talent away from OpenAI. These bids to poach talent from OpenAI were all doomed, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman later confirmed.
Throughout this period of recruitment frenzy, Meta not only focused on individual talents but acquired several startups to bolster its AI capabilities. Among those acquisitions include the AI audio startup Waveforms and the voice technology firm Play AI. These strategic acquisitions were intended to deepen Meta’s technology and acquire targeted talent.
For all the poaching aggressiveness, Meta has shown signs of shifting strategy with a hiring freeze announced last month. “Basic organizational planning…after bringing people on board and undertaking yearly budgeting and planning exercises,” a representative from Meta noted, suggesting that this pause is part of an internal restructuring process.
This blanket hiring freeze could have major implications for the future of AI. Meta has been intent on poaching top talent, using direct outreach and eye-popping financial incentives. Now, by stopping new hires in their tracks, the company is in danger of losing their competitive advantage in the quickly-moving AI space.
