Top AI talent attracted not just by paycheques: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has rejected the notion that top AI researchers are joining Meta solely for the large paycheques, revealing that the key factor attracting them is the compute power and autonomy.

In an interview with The Information, Zuckerberg explained that money isn’t the only reason AI talent from major tech companies such as Apple, OpenAI, and Google DeepMind choose to work with Meta Superintelligence Labs.

While admitting that having money is an advantage he also emphasised that a lot of the numbers reported have been “inaccurate”.


One of the biggest reasons, he claimed, is that researchers have more “leverage”. “You have more compute,” he stated.

Zuckerberg added that researchers have told him they want to be part of a small team with a high number of GPUs. “Having the most number of computes per researcher is definitely a strategic advantage, not just for doing the work but for attracting the best people,” said the Meta founder.

“I think that has been under-reported as one of the main reasons why people are excited to come do this,” he noted.

Another key factor, he said, is the chance to start afresh. “The ability to start from a clean slate, where you are not just at another company, working on some other infrastructure. You get the opportunity to build a new lab from scratch….I think it’s really appealing to a lot of people.”

Also Read: Money isn’t everything: Meta’s Superintelligence Labs roundly rejected by some despite tempting pay offers

Meta’s recent AI talent hunt made headlines with reports claiming that some received compensation packages as high as Rs 1,600 crore. The company is creating large computing clusters, like the Prometheus (1GW) and Hyperion (5GW) systems, which Zuckerberg says will provide the highest compute power per researcher in the world.