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Business Insider
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
xAI has hired 14 Meta employees this year as the AI talent war rages on
The great AI talent tug-of-war is underway — and xAI is now in the ring. Elon Musk's startup has yanked at least 14 researchers and engineers from Meta's grip since January, according to a Business Insider analysis of LinkedIn profiles. Some have joined as recently as a few weeks ago, according to their profiles, showing the battle to secure the brightest minds in AI is far from over as big tech rivals continue to raid each other's ranks. That includes people like Xinlei Chen, who was a research scientist at Meta's Fundamental AI Research, or FAIR, team until he jumped ship in June, per his LinkedIn. Chen focuses on multimodal forms of AI, like images and videos, a field Meta's new 'superintelligence' team is aggressively hiring for. So does Ching-Yao Chuang, another former Meta research scientist who left for xAI in May. Others Meta departures include Alan Rice, a former data center manager who left in April and is now working for xAI based out of Memphis, Tennessee, the site of xAI's biggest supercomputer hub. Sheng Sen — an AI research scientist who helped scale Meta's flagship Llama AI models — also joined xAI in April, according to his LinkedIn. Spokespeople for Meta and xAI did not respond to Business Insider's requests for comment. "Many strong Meta engineers have and are joining xAI and without the need for insane initial comp (still great, but not unsustainably high)," Musk said in an X post on Sunday. "Also, xAI has vastly more market cap growth potential than Meta. And we are hyper merit-based: do something great and your comp can shift substantially higher." Just last month, Meta hired Shengjia Zhao — a co-creator of ChatGPT — as chief scientist of its new Superintelligence Labs, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been offering multimillion-dollar compensation packages to lure AI experts away from rivals. Meta also brought on three researchers who helped launch OpenAI's Zurich office. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has been vocal about Zuckerberg's tactic of dangling hefty compensation offers. In an episode of the "Big Technology Podcast," which aired last week, Amodei said he thinks Meta is "trying to buy something that cannot be bought and that is alignment with the mission." Amodei said Anthropopic employees received and turned down lucrative offers, and the company chose not to counter with inflated individual pay packages because it went against its principles of fairness and could damage company culture. "If Mark Zuckerberg throws a dart at a dart board and hits your name, it doesn't mean you should be paid 10x more than the guy next to you who's just as skilled or talented," he said. Elsewhere in the AI talent shuffle, Microsoft has poached more than two dozen Google employees in recent months, The Wall Street Journal reported this week. xAI has also poached a number of engineers from Musk's other companies over the years. The company currently employs about 40 former Tesla employees and a handful of former SpaceX staffers, a LinkedIn analysis shows. Business Insider previously reported that xAI hired a number of Tesla engineers shortly after the electric carmaker initiated mass layoffs in April 2024. xAI employs around 1,200 people, including an army of AI tutors that train the company's chatbot, internal documentation shows. Earlier this year, an internal xAI organizational chart showed the company's project lead for its Colossus data center was Daniel Rowland. A hardware engineer named Daniel Rowland has worked on Tesla's Dojo supercomputer since 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile and internal documentation reviewed by Business Insider at the time.
Mint
3 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Anthropic's quiet edge in the AI talent war
The war for top AI talent is hitting frenzied new heights among giants like Meta and OpenAI. But it's turning out that Anthropic, maker of the popular Claude models, is the place many engineers would rather work. New research from venture firm SignalFire shows that the startup is increasing its engineering organization faster than those competitors and more. The $170 billion AI company is hiring engineers 2.68 times faster than it's losing them. That number is 2.18 for OpenAI, 2.07 for Meta and 1.17 for Google. To be sure, we shouldn't expect established players like Meta and Google to grow as fast as the young upstarts, SignalFire said, but Anthropic's retention advantage does stand out, especially in Silicon Valley, where recruitment efforts have hit a new peak. Meta's drive this summer to staff its 'Superintelligence Labs" unit sparked the most recent round of talent raids with Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg often making personal offers to top tier AI talent at places like at OpenAI as well as Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Apple. Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei said he won't match salaries for sky-high offers that come in from Meta, saying to do so would be unfair to the equally talented engineers who weren't targeted. Amodei made the comments on an episode of the Big Technology Podcast that aired last week. And yet, employees are still staying, he said. So far, Zuckerberg has hired at least two employees from the startup—Joel Pobar and Anton Bakhtin—both of whom previously spent multiple years working at Meta. But Amodei said he talked to some employees who turned down Meta's offers, saying they 'wouldn't even talk to Mark Zuckerberg." He added, 'What they are doing is trying to buy something that cannot be bought. And that is alignment with the mission." Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees who wanted to build AI with a greater emphasis on safety and using the technology for good. That unique mission and culture has been a huge draw for AI job seekers, according to Heather Doshay, a partner at SignalFire. While most AI companies pour huge investments into guardrails, Anthropic is uniquely outspoken about it, she said. 'I talk to a lot of candidates in the market in my job. And if I ask any candidate, what is the dream company you have at this point? Anthropic is named more often than anyone else," Doshay said. Anthropic said it credits its commitment to safety, the quality of its research and its team of top researchers as reasons that talent chooses to go there. In many ways, OpenAI still has an advantage when it comes to public awareness. (ChatGPT is to AI as Kleenex is to tissues, Doshay said.) But the coding capabilities of Anthropic's Claude models have long been extremely popular among the developer community—the group that makes up this talent market. Michael Shamos, Distinguished Career Professor in the School of Computer Science and Director of the M.S. in Artificial Intelligence and Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University, said there are many factors that play into any candidate's decision on which offer to accept. Salary is a major one, but if there's not a huge order of magnitude of difference in compensation packages, mission and culture become bigger considerations. So do the recent technology advancements of a given company. To some degree, Shamos said, 'I think it's cyclic. If Claude is the hottest LLM right now, then people want to work for Anthropic. When GPT-5 comes out, it's going to be OpenAI again." Nor should the bigger players be discounted, he said. A Google spokesperson said its attrition rates remain very low, and it is attracting leading AI talent, including researchers and engineers who come from top rival labs. Meta and OpenAI didn't comment. SignalFire's Doshay said, 'Obviously there are going to be, you know, many more miles in this marathon to come. And so it's anyone's game."
India Today
3 days ago
- Business
- India Today
Replit CEO says solo app dev is here, all you need is a few hours and a great prompt
The CEO of Replit, Amjad Masad, says the era of one-person software creation has arrived, and all it takes is a good idea, a strong AI prompt, and a few hours of focused work. 'You can just have a prompt and have an app,' Masad said on the Big Technology Podcast. 'I'd say at least set an afternoon to give it some good effort and try to get your first app. And once you do that, you just get it.' Replit, which allows users to build applications using AI-assisted prompts and code-completion tools, has been growing rapidly. The company's annual recurring revenue jumped from $10 million at the end of 2024 to over $100 million by mid-2025, a tenfold rise in under six calls this new approach 'vibe coding,' a term for creating software by writing natural language prompts that AI turns into functional code. While this dramatically lowers the barrier to entry, he stressed that it still takes work. 'People need to invest effort. It's not magic,' he said, adding that users still need to learn prompt engineering, iterate on ideas, and understand that AI models can behave believes vibe coding is opening doors for people without technical backgrounds, from HR professionals and doctors to Uber drivers. 'Everyone in the world has ideas,' Masad said. 'People build so much domain knowledge about their field of work, but they never could make it into software because they didn't have the skill or capital.' Masad sees this shift as a possible antidote to declining entrepreneurship, enabling solo founders to launch sustainable businesses. 'If you're trying to build a company that generates a great living, where even you get rich from it, I think we're almost there,' he the conversation around AI and coding goes far beyond solo app development. The industry is locked in a debate over whether AI will eventually replace human coders says AI already writes 30 percent of its code. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has gone further, predicting that by the end of 2025, between 90 and 100 percent of all code will be AI-generated. In fact, earlier this year, Masad has also agreed with the possibility, and doesn't mince words about its implications. 'As AI agents get better, it would be a waste of time to learn how to code,' he said, referencing Amodei's forecast. However, he adds that the fundamentals still matter: 'Learn how to think, learn how to break down problems. Learn how to communicate clearly, as you would with humans, but also with machines.'Other tech leaders share the belief that AI will take a dominant role in coding, though not all are optimistic about the pace. Linux creator Linus Torvalds has called much of the AI buzz '90 percent marketing and 10 percent reality,' saying genuinely transformative tools are still years away. Infosys founder Narayana Murthy has also questioned the depth of the AI boom, warning against mistaking rebranded software for genuine however, remains bullish: 'I'm agents-pilled. I am very bullish.'- Ends
Business Insider
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Replit's CEO says anyone can build an app in an afternoon with AI — and it's powering a new wave of solo startups
Amjad Masad, Replit's CEO, said the era of solo software creation has arrived, and all it takes is a few hours and a good prompt. "You can just have a prompt and have an app," he said on an episode of the "Big Technology Podcast" published Wednesday. "I'd say at least set an afternoon to give it some good effort and try to get your first app. And once you do that, you just get it," he added. Replit, which lets users build applications through AI-assisted prompts and code autocomplete tools, has seen explosive growth. The company said its annual recurring revenue soared from $10 million at the end of 2024 to over $100 million by mid-2025, marking a tenfold increase in under six months Masad referred to this shift as " vibe coding" — a term used to describe building software by writing natural language prompts that AI turns into functional code. While it lowers the barrier to entry, it still requires time and iteration, he said. "People need to invest effort. It's not magic," he said. "You still need to learn prompt engineering, iterate, and understand that AI models have randomness — like temperature settings." Vibe coding is unlocking new opportunities for non-technical creators, Masad said, citing users ranging from HR professionals to doctors and Uber drivers. "Everyone in the world has ideas," he said. "And people build so much domain knowledge about whatever their field of work, right? But they never were able to make it into software because they didn't have the skill, and maybe they didn't have the capital." In one case, Masad said a British doctor built a comprehensive health-tracking app for under £100, or about $133, despite an agency quoting it £100,000, or $133,000. Masad believes this new wave of one-person startups could help reverse declining entrepreneurship across the country. "If you're trying to build a company that generates a great living — where even you get rich from it — I think we're almost there," he said. Solo entrepreneurs are turning vibe coding into real income The rise of tools like Replit is giving solo creators unprecedented leverage, and it's already changing lives. Take Rebecca Beach, a former UX designer who doubled her income to up to $20,000 a month selling AI-generated digital products. "Before I started vibe coding, it could've taken me weeks or months to create a single course or printable," she previously told Business Insider. "Now I can create a printable workbook in under 20 minutes." Therese Waechter, owner of the online sticker shop Otto's Grotto, said vibe coding helped her improve her Shopify storefront, add custom features, and double her revenue. "I coded in a wholesale catalog and added customizations for listings without developer help," she told Business Insider. "I think these features increased trust in my brand for government clients and retail stores, and boosted my conversion rate for high-profit items." Even total beginners are diving in. Business Insider's Alistair Barr built a working e-commerce site with his daughter in six hours using the AI tool Bolt. The pair used natural language prompts to add payment integrations and launch a live store without writing a single line of code themselves. Still, not everyone sees vibe coding as a total replacement for software engineering. Speaking on the sidelines of VivaTech in Paris in June, GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke said that while AI makes it easier to launch startups, a "non-technical founder will find it difficult to build a startup at scale without developers." Bob McGrew, the former research chief at OpenAI, echoed that point in June, saying prototypes made through vibe coding still need to be "rewritten from scratch" by human engineers.
Time of India
03-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Anthropic CEO throws shade at Mark Zuckerberg's billion-dollar AI talent hunt with dartboard dig: ‘You can't buy purpose with a paycheck'
Culture Over Cash You Might Also Like: Billionaire Vinod Khosla predicts AI teachers will disrupt education and careers. Here's how — BigTechPod (@BigTechPod) The AI Hiring Wars: A Battle for Brains Buying Purpose? Not Quite, Says Amodei In the escalating turf war for top AI talent, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has delivered a pointed, and slightly humorous, critique of Meta 's aggressive recruitment tactics. Speaking on the Big Technology Podcast, Amodei painted a vivid picture: "If Mark Zuckerberg throws a dart at a dartboard and it hits your name, that doesn't mean you should be paid ten times more than the guy next to you who's just as skilled."His remarks come amid widespread reports of Meta launching an all-out offensive to poach AI engineers from rivals like OpenAI, Apple, Google, and Anthropic itself. Yet Amodei claims his startup has remained largely untouched. 'Some [employees] wouldn't even talk to Meta,' he said, asserting that their culture and mission are more attractive than any compensation package Meta can has reportedly been dangling massive offers, with some packages surpassing $200 million for a single hire, according to Business Insider and WIRED. Amodei, however, says Anthropic refuses to match such sums, insisting on fair and consistent pay across the board."I recently posted in our company Slack that we will not compromise our compensation principles or fairness if someone gets a big offer," he shared. In his view, rewarding one employee disproportionately just because they were on Meta's radar would be unjust to their equally capable this stance, Meta has managed to lure away at least one former Anthropic engineer—Joel Pobar—but Amodei suggests their broader impact has been latest AI moonshot, the Superintelligence Lab , has ignited a fierce scramble for elite minds. OpenAI's Chief Research Officer Mark Chen likened it to a break-in after losing several staffers overnight. Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman accused Meta of deploying 'giant offers' to lure talent, with some signing bonuses rumored to top $100 is unapologetic about the ambition. In an internal memo seen by CNBC, he claimed, 'Developing superintelligence is coming into sight,' declaring his goal to bring personal AI to every individual, not just enterprise Meta may have the resources, Amodei questions whether mission-driven AI work can be bought. 'Zuckerberg is trying to buy something that can't be bought,' he said during the podcast, underscoring Anthropic's long-term focus on safe and ethical AI sentiment resonates with other industry leaders too. OpenAI continues to frame itself as a purpose-first organization, while Meta's flashier, big-money moves risk creating tension even within its own teams. As CNBC reported, some insiders at Meta worry that a talent-heavy, cash-fueled approach could lead to ego clashes and fractured the current AI landscape, where demand far outpaces supply, the value of a skilled AI researcher is rivaling that of a professional athlete. Yet, for companies like Anthropic and OpenAI, the real challenge isn't just retaining talent—it's maintaining a sense of purpose amid the frenzy.
