Meta Platforms has created Meta Superintelligence Labs and begun a high-profile hiring blitz, poaching frontier artificial-intelligence researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic. Technology site Wired reported that Meta dangled signing bonuses of more than $100 million and total compensation of up to $300 million over four years—packages that would eclipse the 2024 pay of most Fortune 500 chief executives. A Meta spokesperson denied the scale of the offers, saying compensation figures had been “misrepresented,” but confirmed that several senior researchers have joined the new unit. Public filings and media reports show at least eight former OpenAI scientists among the fresh recruits. The group is headed by Alexandr Wang, whose company Scale AI was recently acquired for $14.3 billion in a 49% stake deal, with former GitHub chief Nat Friedman overseeing product development. OpenAI is scrambling to retain staff. Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman called Meta’s approach “distasteful,” and the San Francisco-based firm ordered a mandatory week-long break to ease burnout and discourage further departures. Internal memos reviewed by media outlets indicate the company is recalibrating compensation and urging employees to reject what it described as high-pressure offers from Meta. The escalating bidding war underscores the scarcity of top-tier talent capable of building next-generation AI models—estimated by some venture investors at only a few thousand people worldwide. Meta has signaled it could spend roughly $20 billion this year on AI expansion, while rivals such as OpenAI, Microsoft and Google continue to pour money into computing infrastructure and salaries in hopes of leading the race toward artificial general intelligence.