Sam Altman, CEO of Openai, must be pulling the hairs. In recent days Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, “He has sneaked into his house” and has stolen no less than seven of his most valuable engineers. He has done it with the oldest tactics in the world.
He money.
In fact, the finish lines have shaken the foundations of the AI industry, because it has not stopped spending true money with the aim of hiring all the talent of the IA that has been able.
The situation has turned these engineers into the new superstars of Silicon Valley, with absolutely stratospheric salaries that are linked to the eternal promise that AI will end up changing the world.
Goal is betting everything to that belief, and has decided to go for all spending huge fortunes Not already in data centersbut in talent. Let’s summarize:
- According to Altman himself, the Zuckerberg company offered initial bonds of 100 million dollars -although They were not exactly that – to some specific talents of AI to sign by goal. Fact offers reach 300 million dollars in four years According to Wired.
- Several of the “tempted” engineers per finishing have ended up accepting those millionaire offers. According to a internal statement From Zuckerberg himself, there have been 11 engineers who have signed by goal. Seven come from Openai, three from Google and one from Anthropic.
- Meta has also paid $ 14.9 billion for 49% participation in Scaleai, but above all for signing Alexandr Wangits CEO, which will now collect the new goal superintelligence division.
- They have also signed Nat Friedman, Exceiver of githubwhich will collect that new division with Wang.
- And they have just signed Daniel Gross, who Safe Superintelligence co -founded Together with Ilya Sutskever just a few months ago.
- For those last two target signings he has offered Buy a participation 49% in the Risk Capital Fund of Friedman and Gross, called NFDG. The value of the operation is unknown.
Welcome to the Game of Thrones of the AI
The last movements are nothing more than a confirmation of Zuckerberg’s voracity, which has moved quickly and with that irresistible hook of checks (almost) blank. And meanwhile, its competitors have been exposed to a reality:
That AI has become a ‘game of thrones’.
This industry is seeing from its beginnings and notable coming. At first, however, these internal movements were motivated by personal differences, visions or ambitions. Now many seem simply motivated by money.
Thus, we saw how Openai’s origins became a new “Paypal Mafia” from which new startups arose. These first movements had a lot to do with a simple reason: some confudators and employees of OpenAi did not support Altman or did not share their vision. And that was how we saw several outstanding startups derived from those tensions:
However, they all abandoned by OpenAi’s boat not so much for money – which probably also – as well as betting on another different vision. Of those “Morales” resignations We have gone to absolutely mercenary resignations in which money – and not the mission or vision of the company – is the clear factor of movement.
That has made Altman recently said, there are two sides: that of the missionaries – which faithful to the companies in which they began their career, and that they believe in their vision and objectives – and the mercenaries that are sold to the highest bidder. AND According to Altman“The missionaries will overcome mercenaries.”
The case of Sutskever, which confirmed yesterday the newsIt is especially painful, because now he runs out of his main adventure partner – Daniel Gross. The Sutskever startup is, as in the case of Murati, an absolute mystery: They have no visible productbut they have still achieved extraordinary investment rounds.
It was in fact leaked that Zuckerberg came to make an offer to Sutskever To buy your startup, valued at 32,000 million dollars. Sutskever himself seemed to confirm that information by saying that “we feel flattered for their attention, but we are focused on our work.”
Betrayals point to an awkward reality: AI is, above all, smoke
These movements speak of a deeper problem in the AI industry: those that can be trying to make their particular August, because it is not clear that the promises and the expectation generated by these companies end up becoming a reality.
The clearest example is in the recent case of Daniel Gross, co -founder with Sutskever by Safe Superintelligence. In his message confirming the news of his partner’s departure, Sutskever said that “we have (the resources of) computing, the team and we know what to do. Together we will continue to build a safe superintelligence.”
It is clear that Daniel Gross knew the same thing that Sutskever knows about the progress of that work, so, If they were so clear about the goal and knew how to achieve it, why change the side? If someone knew that he was going to win the race with his car, would he change it for another simply because they pay him for doing so?
It makes no sense. And that tells us about the great truth of the world of AI: that despite all those expectations and all that money, nobody knows for sure if this technology will change the world as many believe it will change it.
But in the meantime, the mercenaries will take advantage of it.
Quevedo already said. Powerful gentleman is Don Money.
Image | Max
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