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Axios
5 days ago
- Business
- Axios
These AI experts are getting offered boatloads of cash by Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg isn't waiting for AI talent. He's opening up the checkbook like he's an NFL GM trying to reach the Super Bowl. Why it matters: Some top executives and researchers in AI are moving from companies like Apple and OpenAI to Meta as Facebook's parent company looks for any leg-up in the race to build the top AI products. Meta recruits top AI experts Driving the news: Zuckerberg has been dishing out massive compensation packages to AI experts and talent like they're pro athletes or Hollywood stars. One prospect received an offer "worth as much as $1.5 billion over at least six years," per The Wall Street Journal. "Last year, the cost of a top, world-class deep learning expert was about the same as a top NFL quarterback prospect," Peter Lee, Microsoft's head of research, told Bloomberg BusinessWeek. "The cost of that talent is pretty remarkable." Yes, but: The packages are often heavily weighted toward stock options over cash, which means their value could largely evaporate if Meta's stock drops You probably familiar with the NFL and NBA stars who make bank for their talents. But identifying AI wizards isn't so easy. Meta declined to comment on AI recruit salaries and compensation packages. Here's a rundown of the AI prodigies getting offered boatloads of cash by Zuckerberg. Alexandr Wang Wang was brought into Meta when the company invested billions into Scale AI for a 49% stake. Wang, the company's CEO, was moved over to Meta in the deal to lead AI efforts and focus on "superintelligence." Since then, Wang has joined Zuckerberg in recruiting top AI experts to build out their team. Matt Deitke What to know: Deitke, an artificial intelligence "whiz kid," was recruited by Meta to be an AI researcher. The 24-year-old dropped out of the University of Washington. But he's worked at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, an AI lab in Seattle, according to the New York Times There, he started Molmo, an A.I. chatbot that helps build images, text and sounds. By the numbers: NYT reports Deitke's deal with Meta is "$250 million over four years, with potentially up to $100 million of that to be paid in the first year." Andrew Tulloch Zoom in: Tulloch is a leading researcher and co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup, per the Wall Street Journal. The Australia native previously worked at Facebook on machine learning, WSJ reports. He was recruited from Facebook for OpenAI once the company started taking off. Now, Meta has sought to win him back. By the numbers: Meta reportedly offered Tulloch "a billion-dollar package that could ... have been worth as much as $1.5 billion over at least six years," WSJ reports. Meta disputes this figure. Tulloch hasn't accepted Meta's offer. Shengjia Zhao Context: Zhao was the former lead scientist at OpenAI and a co-creator of ChatGPT and GPT-4. He was hired to lead Meta's new superintelligence team, where he works alongside Zuckerberg and Wang on advancing AI models. "In this role, Shengjia will set the research agenda and scientific direction for our new lab working directly with me and Alex," Zuckerberg wrote on Threads. The Information reported in June that Zhao was one of several AI recruits for Meta, including OpenAI researchers Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, and Hongyu Ren. Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, Xiaohua Zhai What to know: Beyer, Kolesnikov and Zhai were three of the top researchers at OpenAI's Zurich office before they were poached by Meta. The three helped launch the Zurich office after joining OpenAI from Google DeepMind. Follow the money: Multiple reports suggested the trio was given a $100 million sign-on bonus. Beyer. himself, called it"fake news." Ruoming Pang Details: Pang, an AI executive for Apple who led a team running the company's foundation AI model, was one of the biggest recent Meta hires. A well-known engineer and manager, Pang previously moved from Google parent company Alphabet to Apple in 2021. By the numbers: Pang's offer was worth in the "tens of millions of dollars per year," per Bloomberg. Nat Friedman Flashback: Zuckerberg announced in June that Friedman, the former GitHub CEO, had been hired to work on the superintelligence lab with Wang. Friedman's hire was expected since he had previously worked with AI investment firms and had served on the Meta Advisory group. "He already has a good sense of our roadmap and what we need to do," Zuckerberg said in a memo. Daniel Gross Details: Gross departed startup Safe Superintelligence Inc. for Meta. Zuckerberg started recruiting Gross after Meta failed to acquire SSI earlier in 2025. Gross was previously a tech investor with Friedman. Trapit Bansal Details: Bansal is an AI researcher who previously worked for OpenAI, where he was a foundational co-creator of OpenAI's first AI reasoning model, o1. He also worked with Microsoft, Google and Facebook as an intern, according to his website. What they're saying: Bansal is seen as someone who could help Meta develop a competitive AI reasoning model, something it doesn't currently offer to the public, TechCrunch reports. Other top AI recruits for Meta Joel Pobar previously worked at Meta on machine learning before jumping to Anthropic. Anton Bakhtin previously helped develop Claude at Anthropic. Bowen Zhang was an instrumental AI researcher at Apple. Mark Lee and Tom Gunter were two other AI experts snagged from Apple. Tianhe Yu, Cosmo Du and Weiyue Wang were all brought into Meta. The trio worked on the Gemini model.
India Today
6 days ago
- Business
- India Today
Mark Zuckerberg doubles offer to Rs 2,196 crore after 24-year-old AI researcher says no to Meta
Silicon Valley is blazing through the AI talent wars, and Meta is clearly sparing no expense to attract the brightest minds in technology to build its Superintelligence Lab. According to reports Meta is offering hefty compensation packages to lure top talent, the latest being a staggering Rs 2,196 crore compensation, made personally by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to 24-year-old AI researcher Matt to The New York Times, Deitke initially declined Meta's offer of approximately $125 million (around Rs 1,098 crore), spread over four years and chose to focus on his rapidly growing AI startup, Vercept. However, following his refusal, Zuckerberg personally arranged a face-to-face meeting and revised the offer to an extraordinary $250 million (around Rs 2,196 crore), including handing over up to $100 million (Rs 879 crore) in the first year alone. This final offer reportedly convinced Deitke to join Meta as an AI researcher within its Superintelligence who exactly is Matt Deitke, and why was Zuckerberg so determined to bring him into Meta's superintelligence project? Deitke is considered one of the most sought-after minds in the AI community. Originally a PhD candidate at the University of Washington, he left academia to pursue real-world AI breakthroughs at the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) in Seattle. There, he led the development of Molmo, which is a cutting-edge multimodal chatbot capable of processing not only text but also images and audio. His work for Molmo earned him an Outstanding Paper Award at NeurIPS 2022, one of the most prestigious conferences in the AI Deitkework in the AI world, Meta had been keen to recruit him since late 2023, but he initially turned down their lucrative offer in favour of building his autonomous AI agents at Vercept. However, after Zuckerberg's personal involvement, and the increased compensation package ultimately made Deitke decide to join Meta's ambitious Superintelligence Meta's Superintelligence lab has already invested over 1 billion to build an 'all-star' AI team, recruiting top talent from rivals like OpenAI, Google, and Apple. One of its latest high-profile hires along with Deitke is Ruoming Pang, the former head of Apple's AI models team, reportedly offered a compensation package exceeding $ 200 million. - Ends
India.com
04-08-2025
- Business
- India.com
Meet man, who rejected Meta's Rs 10000000000 salary offer, then Mark Zuckerberg met him personally because…, he is…
Matt Deitke is the 24-year-old man who declined a Rs 1,000 crore (around $125 million) salary offer from Meta. His decision surprised many including Mark Zuckerberg, who later reached out to him personally. What Is Mark Zuckerberg's Hiring Plan For Meta? Zuckerberg wants Meta to be a global leader in artificial intelligence and to make this plan sucessfull he launched an aggressive hiring campaign to find top talent from the U.S.-based startup Thinking Machines Lab. During this process, he was impressed with Deitke and gave him a record-breaking offer of $125 million but Deitke declined it. After rejecting the offer, Zuckerberg met with Deitke personally and raised the offer to $250 million (about Rs 2,200 crore). Even then, Deitke didn't immediately accept it. He said he needed time to consult with friends before making a decision. After some time he finally accepted the offer. Who Is Matt Deitke? Matt Deitke is famous in the AI community. He enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Computer Science at Washington University but dropped out midway. He then joined the Allen Institute for AI in Seattle, where he played a major role in developing the chatbot 'Molmo.' Deitke 's work gave him global recognition like the Outstanding Paper Award at NeurIPS 2022 in one of the most prestigious AI conferences in the world.
International Business Times
03-08-2025
- Business
- International Business Times
Who is Matt Dietke? Mark Zukerberg Hires AI Prodigy with $250M Deal After He Rejects Initial Deal
US technology giant Meta, which is on a hiring spree of highly talented AI researchers, has lured one more AI prodigy, Matt Deitke, in an impressive $250 million deal. 24-year-old Dietke is the co-founder of AI startup Vercept. He had reportedly refused Meta's earlier $125 million offer but changed his mind after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's direct appeal. X Zuckerberg personally met Dietke and revised the earlier offer to $250 million with $100 million upfront in stock and cash. This major hire happens at a time when Meta is pushing hard to lead the AI field in the coming years. Before he joined Meta, Deitke helped start Vercept, an AI company based in Seattle with a big goal: to create self-driving AI agents that don't wait for commands. Unlike regular AI tools that need prompts to perform tasks, Vercept's systems can detect goals, explore digital spaces, take actions, and adapt to dynamic environments, working like digital employees who can think for themselves. The company was launched in late 2023 with ten team members and got $16.5 million in initial funding. Reputed names like former Google CEO Eric Schmidt have backed it. Vercept caught people's attention by pushing the boundaries of what AI could do outside the lab. Vercept builds AI agents that can work independently across various platforms—they can browse websites, extract information, utilize tools, and adapt their behavior in response to changes in their environment. The aim is to create AI that doesn't just respond, but initiates. These skills helped Deitke and his new company stand out in a field packed with AI players. Before Vercept, Deitke worked at the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), where he was leading the development of Molmo, an AI system that understands text, images, and sound. Molmo marked a significant advancement in AI design. It went beyond models based on language by combining visual and auditory reasoning. This work won him an Outstanding Paper Award at the well-known NeurIPS 2022 conference. The judges chose his paper from over 10,000 entries. The system's ability to reason and process sensory data in real-time matched Meta's goals. They too wanted to create AI that was more aware and human-like. Deitke's hiring is a cornerstone addition to Meta's new Superintelligence Lab (MSL)—a major initiative launched in early 2025 to build artificial general intelligence (AGI). MSL is headed by Alexandr Wang, co-founder of Scale AI, who was handpicked by Zuckerberg to lead Meta's AI transformation. Wang's induction marked a strategic shift. Known for his data-first approach and rapid experimentation, Wang is tasked with assembling an elite team to rival OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic. Meta has reportedly spent over $1 billion recruiting top researchers, including Apple's former AI lead Ruoming Pang, whose package also crossed $200 million.
Time of India
03-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Who is Matt Deitke? The 24-year-old AI researcher and PhD dropout behind Meta's $250 million offer
In an era where artificial intelligence is rapidly redrawing the boundaries of human capability, the competition to secure the brightest minds has intensified into an all-out global race. Amidst billion-dollar investments, multimodal breakthroughs, and the relentless pursuit of artificial general intelligence, one name has recently emerged as the embodiment of this new wave of AI ambition, Matt Deitke. At just 24, Deitke has done what few in any field can claim: Walked away from a prestigious PhD, co-founded a startup at the edge of AI autonomy, and turned down a nine-figure job offer, only to see it doubled by one of the most powerful tech CEOs on the planet. This is not a story of overnight success. It's the tale of a young researcher whose talent, timing, and tenacity are rewriting the rules of how AI careers unfold, and whose trajectory now sits at the intersection of cutting-edge science, billion-dollar bets, and the strategic future of Big Tech. The scholar who walked away Matt Deitke's early career followed a familiar path for a rising academic star. As a doctoral student in computer science at the University of Washington, he immersed himself in a field undergoing seismic change. But where others saw a traditional climb through academia, Deitke sensed the urgency of a moment that could not be paused. Rather than remain in the ivory tower, he chose to engage directly with the frontier. He left the PhD program, an unconventional but increasingly common decision among elite AI researchers, and joined the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) in Seattle, a renowned research hub founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. There, he didn't just contribute; he led. Deitke spearheaded the development of Molmo, a chatbot built not only to process text but to understand images and audio, ushering in a more human-like form of machine understanding. This multimodal capacity represents one of the most important advances in AI today, and Deitke was already at its core. Recognition and reinvention Deitke's work quickly caught the attention of the global AI community. At NeurIPS 2022, one of the most prestigious conferences in machine learning, he received an Outstanding Paper Award, an accolade that signals a researcher's arrival on the world stage. But Deitke wasn't content with accolades. In 2023, he co-founded Vercept, a startup focused on building autonomous AI agents that don't just interpret the web, but navigate it and act within it. The idea was radical: Systems that can take goals and execute tasks across the internet, mimicking the autonomy of human behaviour in digital environments. The startup, though lean with just ten team members, raised $16.5 million from a high-profile group of investors that included Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google. Vercept represents the vanguard of where AI is headed, beyond chatbots and recommendation engines, toward agents capable of real-world digital action. And at its helm was a 24-year-old who had already turned down one of the biggest job offers in tech history. Meta 's $250 million bet When Meta first approached Deitke with an offer reportedly worth $125 million over four years, it was already a headline-making move. But in a dramatic twist, Deitke declined. That rejection prompted a personal meeting with Mark Zuckerberg, who made a counter offer that stunned even seasoned Silicon Valley observers: $250 million. The deal, among the most generous compensation packages ever extended to a researcher of any age, was emblematic of Meta's increasingly aggressive AI recruitment strategy. It recently onboarded Ruoming Pang, the former leader of Apple's AI models team, in a package reportedly exceeding $200 million. In 2025 alone, Meta is expected to spend $72 billion on capital expenditure—including massive investments in compute infrastructure and AI talent. A new model for AI careers Matt Deitke's story is more than a tale of youth and fortune; it's a parable for the new reality of AI. The boundaries between academia, industry, and entrepreneurship are no longer rigid. In fact, they are dissolving. Researchers now operate in a landscape where intellectual achievement can translate into unprecedented wealth, influence, and impact. Yet Deitke's choices reflect more than opportunism. They show strategic clarity. Rather than lock himself into a single institution or trajectory, he has navigated the ecosystem with autonomy, mirroring the very kind of AI he seeks to build. At 24, Matt Deitke stands not only as a prodigy but as a prototype: The kind of polymath-entrepreneur-researcher hybrid that today's AI revolution demands. Whether at Vercept or Meta, his work will likely shape the tools, agents, and intelligence systems that define the coming decade. As Silicon Valley, academia, and the global tech community look to the future of artificial intelligence, one thing is increasingly clear: Matt Deitke isn't just along for the ride; he's driving the evolution. Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
