Overview

• Meta has offered Thinking Machines Lab researchers packages ranging from $200 million to over $1 billion over multiple years, with first-year guarantees of $50 million to $100 million.
• More than a dozen researchers at the one-year-old startup valued at $12 billion have been approached but none have accepted Meta’s proposals.
• All recruits would report directly to Superintelligence Labs head Alexandr Wang under a still-unfinalized organizational chart.
• The aggressive talent drive aligns with Meta’s strategy to undercut rivals such as OpenAI by deploying open-source models and leveraging its $14.3 billion stake in Scale AI for data-labeling and infrastructure.
• Analysts caution that the unprecedented compensation could strain Meta’s near-term profits and reset pay benchmarks across Silicon Valley.