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Наталя ХандусенкоWork
13 December 2024, 12:48
2024-12-13
The war for talent between Musk's xAI and Altman's OpenAI: how much more than market salaries are both companies willing to pay IT specialists
Two big players in the AI industry, Elon Musk’s xAI and Sam Altman’s OpenAI, have entered into a battle for talent. In August, Musk filed a lawsuit accusing Altman’s company of offering “generous compensation” to “starve out competitors.” But an analysis of salary data has shown that both companies offer significantly more than the average salary for some positions.
Two big players in the AI industry, Elon Musk’s xAI and Sam Altman’s OpenAI, have entered into a battle for talent. In August, Musk filed a lawsuit accusing Altman’s company of offering “generous compensation” to “starve out competitors.” But an analysis of salary data has shown that both companies offer significantly more than the average salary for some positions.
To verify Musk's salary claims, Business Insider analyzed salary data from special visa applications for each company from 2024. While both companies offered compensation that far exceeded typical industry salaries for several roles for which data was available, OpenAI paid some of its employees an even larger bonus than standard rates.
The documentation that companies must submit when hiring foreign workers on special visas such as the H-1B opens a window into closed-source pay data at both companies and provides a rare glimpse into the war being waged for AI talent.
xAI has about 100 employees, while OpenAI has about 3,000.
Source: Business Insider
xAI provided salary data for 10 job applications, compared to OpenAI’s 86. According to U.S. Customs and Immigration data, the companies paid 37% and 87%, respectively, above industry-standard wages.
The Department of Labor sets the average wage paid to workers in a particular occupation within a given geographic area. Employers who hire workers on special visas, such as the H-1B, must pay them no less.
The data shows that salaries for the 10 roles at xAI for which special visa applications were submitted ranged from $250,000 to $500,000. At the top end of the range, xAI paid an employee almost twice as much as for the role of chief machine learning engineer.
Among the 86 roles for which there is data on special visa applications, OpenAI paid between $145,000 and $530,000, with one member of the company’s technical staff earning more than three times the normal salary for the role.
The table above compares the salaries of two companies with the average salary prevailing in the labor market for these positions.
