OpenAI, Google, xAI in Billion-Dollar Battle to Retain AI Talent

Ever since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, the battle to attract top AI talent has escalated dramatically, reaching what insiders describe as "professional athlete" levels. According to over a dozen sources involved in AI recruitment, tech companies are sparing no expense in recruiting and retaining top-tier talent.

Ariel Herbert-Voss, CEO of cybersecurity startup RunSybil and former OpenAI researcher, noted, “The AI labs approach hiring like a game of chess… They are like, do I have enough rooks? Enough knights?”

Top AI Contributors Driving Billion-Dollar Models

OpenAI and Google are actively seeking to maintain a competitive edge by recruiting standout individual contributors, or “ICs,” whose unique skills can significantly impact the development of frontier AI models.

Noam Brown, a key researcher behind OpenAI's recent breakthroughs in complex reasoning tasks, recounted being heavily pursued in 2023 — including experiences like lunch with Google co-founder Sergey Brin, poker with Sam Altman, and even a private jet visit from a major investor.

Ultimately, Brown chose OpenAI because, in his words, “It was actually financially not the best option that I had,” and “OpenAI was willing to put resources – both people and compute – behind the work he was excited about.”

Despite this, companies continue to offer massive compensation packages to star researchers. As per seven sources, OpenAI researchers received retention bonuses of $2 million, with equity increases exceeding $20 million to stay amid interest in Ilya Sutskever’s new startup, SSI.

Others fielding offers from Eleven Labs reportedly received $1 million bonuses just to remain with OpenAI. Some top researchers at OpenAI now command over $10 million annually in total compensation.

DeepMind, xAI Join the Pay War

Google DeepMind has reportedly matched the competition with offers of $20 million annual packages, reduced stock vesting to 3 years, and granted off-cycle equity incentives to retain top AI experts. Google has not commented on these claims.

In comparison, standard tech engineers at large firms earn an average salary of $281,000 with $261,000 in equity per year, according to compensation tracking platform Comprehensive.io.

Elon Musk’s AI venture, xAI, has also entered the race. Two sources confirmed Musk personally reaches out to close top candidates. xAI, however, did not issue a response.

The Rise of the “10,000x Engineer”

Unlike previous tech booms, the current AI wave hinges on a very limited group of exceptional individuals. Estimates suggest the elite group of high-impact ICs ranges from a few dozen to just over a thousand.

These individuals are considered vital to the future of LLM development — the backbone of modern AI.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman highlighted this shift in a late 2023 post:
“sure 10x engineers are cool but damn those 10,000x engineer/researchers…”

This reference emphasizes a new industry belief: the best AI researchers are 10,000 times more impactful than the average engineer.

Mira Murati's New Venture Fuels the Fire

Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, who left in September 2024, has since founded her own AI startup. She attracted 20 OpenAI employees before publicly announcing the company in February 2025. Her team has now grown to around 60 researchers, including top talent from various labs.

Despite having no public product, her company is reportedly closing a record-breaking seed round based solely on the strength of her team. A spokesperson for Murati declined to comment.

AI Hiring Gets Creative with “Moneyball” Techniques

The fierce competition for limited talent has pushed companies to innovate their hiring strategies. Zeki Data, a talent analytics firm, is using sports-style scouting methods — inspired by the film “Moneyball” — to identify under-the-radar AI talent.

They discovered companies like Anthropic are increasingly hiring individuals from physics and quantum computing backgrounds. Anthropic declined to comment on this finding.

OpenAI's Sébastien Bubeck, who previously led GenAI research at Microsoft, echoed this trend:
“We’re seeing an influx of talent from all fields going into AI now… some of these people are very, very clever, and they make a difference.”

Conclusion

The modern AI boom is not only about faster chips or better models — it’s about people. A very small group of researchers now holds immense power in shaping the future of artificial intelligence. As tech companies escalate offers and adopt new recruitment strategies, the value of these “10,000x” researchers will only rise further.