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Time of India
21-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
OpenAI, Google, xAI battle for superstar AI talent, shelling out millions
By Anna Tong, Kenrick Cai SAN FRANCISCO: The contest in Silicon Valley to dominate artificial intelligence is playing out on a new court: superstar researchers. has always been a hallmark of the tech industry, since ChatGPT launched in late 2022, recruiting has escalated to professional athlete levels, a dozen people who have been involved in recruiting AI researchers told Reuters. "The AI labs approach hiring like a game of chess," said Ariel Herbert-Voss, CEO of cybersecurity startup RunSybil and a former OpenAI researcher who entered the talent fight after launching his own company. "They want to move as fast as possible, so they are willing to pay a lot for candidates with specialized and complementary expertise, much like the game pieces. They are like, do I have enough rooks? Enough knights?" Companies including OpenAI and Google , eager to get or stay ahead in the race to create the best AI models, court these so-called "ICs" - the individual contributors whose work can make or break companies. Noam Brown, one of the researchers behind OpenAI's recent AI breakthroughs in complex math and science reasoning, said when he explored job opportunities in 2023, he found himself being courted by tech's elite: lunch with Google founder Sergey Brin, poker at Sam Altman's, and a private jet visit from an eager investor. Elon Musk will also make calls to close candidates for xAI , his AI company, said two people who have spoken to him. Ultimately, Brown said, he chose OpenAI because OpenAI was willing to put resources - both people and compute - behind the work he was excited about. "It was actually financially not the best option that I had," he said, explaining that compensation is not the most important thing for many researchers. That hasn't stopped companies from throwing millions of dollars in bonuses and pay packages at star researchers, according to seven sources familiar with the matter. A few top OpenAI researchers who have indicated interest in joining former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever's new company, SSI, were offered retention bonuses of $2 million, in addition to equity increases of $20 million or more, if they stayed, two sources told Reuters. Some have only been required to stay for a year in order to get the entire to comment. Other OpenAI researchers who have fielded offers from Eleven Labs have received bonuses of at least $1 million to stay at OpenAI, two sources told Reuters. Google DeepMind has offered top researchers $20 million per year compensation packages, awarded off-cycle equity grants specifically to AI researchers, and has also reduced vesting on some stock packages to 3 years, instead of the normal 4 years, sources said. In contrast, top engineers at big tech companies receive an average yearly compensation of $281,000 in salary and $261,000 in equity, according to a company that tracks tech industry compensation. 10,000x TALENT While talent has always been important in Silicon Valley, the difference with the AI boom is how few people are in this elite group - depending on who you ask, the number could range from a few dozen to around a thousand, eight sources told Reuters. That is based on the belief that this very small number of 'ICs' have made outsized contributions to the development of large language models, the technology today's AI boom is based on, and therefore could make or break the success of an AI model. "sure 10x engineers are cool but damn those 10,000x engineer/researchers...," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted in late 2023, alluding to a long held maxim that the best software engineers were 10 times as good as the average (10x), but now in the AI industry, the best researchers are 10,000 times (10,000x) as effective as the average. The of OpenAI's chief technology officer, Mira Murati, who then founded a rival AI startup, has intensified the AI talent war. Murati, who was known at OpenAI for her management skills and execution prowess, recruited 20 OpenAI employees before announcing her company in February. She has now lured even more researchers from OpenAI and other labs, and the team is now around 60 people, two sources told Reuters. Though the company has no product in the market, Murati is in the middle of closing a record-breaking seed round that is, based on the team's strength. A representative for Murati declined to comment. The scarcity of talent has forced companies to approach hiring creatively. Zeki Data, a data firm focused on identifying top AI talent, said it is employing sports industry data analysis techniques like the one popularized by the movie "Moneyball" to identify promising but undiscovered talent. For instance, Zeki Data discovered Anthropic has been hiring researchers with theoretical physics backgrounds, and other AI companies have hired individuals with quantum computing backgrounds. Anthropic did not reply to a request for comment. "On my team, I have extraordinarily talented mathematicians who wouldn't have come to this field if it weren't for the fast progress that we're seeing now," said Sebastien Bubeck, who left his role as vice president of GenAI research at Microsoft last year to join OpenAI. "We're seeing an influx of talent from all fields going into AI now. And some of these people are very, very clever, and they make a difference."
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google to unveil AI upgrades at I/O conference amid search challenges
By Kenrick Cai MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (Reuters) -Alphabet's Google kicks off its annual developer conference on Tuesday with a flurry of announcements showcasing its huge investment in artificial intelligence, while seeking to fend off concerns over the future of its business. The I/O conference in Mountain View, California has adopted a tone of increased urgency since the rise of generative AI posed a fresh threat to Google's long-time stronghold organizing and retrieving information on the internet. In recent months, Google has become more aggressive in asserting it has caught up to competitors after appearing flat-footed upon the release of Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT. Top executives including CEO Sundar Pichai have often cited the pole position of its Gemini class of AI models on public leaderboards, ahead of top models from competitors including OpenAI and Meta. Now, with consumer usage of AI chatbots maturing, investors will be tracking how aggressive Google is in disrupting its search advertising business line, which accounted for the majority of the company's $350 billion in 2024 revenue. Earlier this month, Alphabet stock lost $150 billion in market value in one day after an Apple executive testified during one of Google's antitrust cases that AI offerings had caused a decline in searches on Apple's Safari web browser for the first time. In turn, some analysts reassessed how to measure Google's dominant search market share, which has for years hovered around 90% by traditional metrics. A Bernstein analyst note this month placed the figure at 65% to 70% when accounting for usage of AI chatbots. Wells Fargo analysts estimated that Google's market share could fall to less than 50% in five years. The analysts pointed to a behavioral shift drawing consumers towards AI chatbots where they once used traditional search engines. Google's market position could be further rocked by the outcome of legal challenges, in particular a pair of antitrust cases brought by the Justice Department, which is seeking the forced sale of parts of the tech giant including its Chrome browser. Investment in AI accounts for most of Alphabet's $75 billion in forecasted capital expenditures this year, a dramatic uptick from the $52.5 billion in 2024 spending that the company reported. In April, CEO Sundar Pichai reiterated those spending plans despite market uncertainty around tariffs. Google has injected more AI into its core search engine over the past two years, primarily through AI Overviews, generative AI summaries that are increasingly appearing atop the traditional hyperlinks to relevant webpages, and AI Mode, an experimental version that leverages AI more intensively to answer complex queries. Tuesday's announcements will likely include further updates to search as well as Google's effort to deliver a "universal AI agent." At last year's conference, the company teased Project Astra, a prototype tool that can talk to users about anything captured on their smartphone camera in real time. The company began experimenting with inserting ads into AI Overviews last May, though it has avoided any radical changes that would rock the boat. Meanwhile, Google is growing other revenue streams to monetize AI. Last week, the company told Reuters its Google One consumer subscription service had crossed 150 million subscribers helped by "millions" of customers who signed up for a $19.99 per month plan with access to AI capabilities unavailable for most free users.
Time of India
16-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Google hits 150 million users for subscription service with help of AI
By Kenrick Cai SAN FRANCISCO: Alphabet's Google One subscription service, which charges consumers for cloud storage and artificial intelligence features, recently crossed 150 million subscribers, the company told Reuters. That represents a 50% increase since February 2024, when Google One crossed 100 million subscriptions nearly six years after the service launched. The same month, Google introduced a $19.99 a month plan with access to AI capabilities unavailable for free users. The company continues to offer Google One subscription tiers for file storage, but without most AI features, at lower prices. The new AI tier accounted for "millions" of subscriptions, according to Shimrit Ben-Yair, a vice president at Google in charge of the subscription service. Google One is part of Alphabet's effort to diversify beyond advertising, which accounted for more than three-quarters of its $350 billion in overall 2024 revenue. Alphabet's success with subscriptions could play a key role in its long-term financial outlook as it grapples with the threat of AI chatbots, like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google's own Gemini, to its search engine stronghold. AI offerings caused a decline in searches on Apple's Safari browser for the first time ever, an Apple executive said during court testimony last week. The iPhone maker is looking to introduce AI-powered search options, a blow for Alphabet, which lost $150 billion in market value that day. Unlike with search engines, AI interfaces have yet to find a seamless way to incorporate ads. Many companies are instead charging users through subscriptions or based on product usage. Investors have questioned how Google will adapt. "Just like you've seen with YouTube, we'll give people options over time," CEO Sundar Pichai said in February when asked efforts to monetize Gemini during an earnings call. "For this year, I think you'll see us be focused on the subscription direction."
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google hits 150 million users for subscription service with help of AI
By Kenrick Cai SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Alphabet's Google One subscription service, which charges consumers for cloud storage and artificial intelligence features, recently crossed 150 million subscribers, the company told Reuters. That represents a 50% increase since February 2024, when Google One crossed 100 million subscriptions nearly six years after the service launched. The same month, Google introduced a $19.99 a month plan with access to AI capabilities unavailable for free users. The company continues to offer Google One subscription tiers for file storage, but without most AI features, at lower prices. The new AI tier accounted for "millions" of subscriptions, according to Shimrit Ben-Yair, a vice president at Google in charge of the subscription service. Google One is part of Alphabet's effort to diversify beyond advertising, which accounted for more than three-quarters of its $350 billion in overall 2024 revenue. Alphabet's success with subscriptions could play a key role in its long-term financial outlook as it grapples with the threat of AI chatbots, like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google's own Gemini, to its search engine stronghold. AI offerings caused a decline in searches on Apple's Safari browser for the first time ever, an Apple executive said during court testimony last week. The iPhone maker is looking to introduce AI-powered search options, a blow for Alphabet, which lost $150 billion in market value that day. Unlike with search engines, AI interfaces have yet to find a seamless way to incorporate ads. Many companies are instead charging users through subscriptions or based on product usage. Investors have questioned how Google will adapt. "Just like you've seen with YouTube, we'll give people options over time," CEO Sundar Pichai said in February when asked efforts to monetize Gemini during an earnings call. "For this year, I think you'll see us be focused on the subscription direction." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Time of India
30-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Meta introduces Llama API to attract AI developers
By Kenrick Cai SAN FRANCISCO: Meta Platforms on Tuesday announced an application programming interface in a bid to woo businesses to more easily build AI products using its Llama artificial-intelligence models. Llama API, which was unveiled during the company's first-ever AI developer conference, will help Meta go up against APIs offered by rival model makers including Microsoft -backed OpenAI, Alphabet's Google and emerging low-cost alternatives such as China's DeepSeek. "You can now start using Llama with one line of code," chief product officer Chris Cox said during a keynote speech onstage. APIs allow software developers to customize and quickly integrate a piece of technology into their own products. For OpenAI, APIs constitute the firm's primary source of revenue. Meta, which released the latest version of Llama earlier this month, did not share any pricing details for the API. In a press release, it said the new API was available as a limited preview for select customers and would roll out broadly in weeks to months. The company also released a standalone AI assistant app earlier on Tuesday. It plans to test a paid subscription service of its AI chatbot in the second quarter, Reuters reported in February. Meta releases its Llama models largely free-of-charge for use by developers, a strategy CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously stated will pay off in the form of innovative products, less dependence on would-be competitors and greater engagement on the company's core social networks. "You have full agency over these custom models, you control them in a way that's not possible with other offers," Manohar Paluri, a vice president of AI, said at the conference. "Whatever model you customize is yours to take wherever you want, not locked on our servers." DeepSeek, which has also released partly open-source AI models, sparked a stock selloff in January amid concerns over the high costs of AI development needed by top U.S. firms. At the conference, Meta developers spoke about new techniques they used to significantly reduce costs and improve the efficiency of its newest Llama iteration. Zuckerberg welcomed increased competition that would steer the competitive ecosystem away from domination by a small number of leaders. "If another model, like DeepSeek, is better at something, then now as developers you have the ability to take the best parts of the intelligence from the different models and produce exactly what you need, which I think is going to be very powerful," Zuckerberg said.
