Mark Zuckerberg's $1.5 Billion Offer to Andrew Tulloch: A Test of Loyalty

Mark Zuckerberg attempted to acquire Mira Murati's startup, Thinking Machines Lab, but she declined his $1 billion offer. He then tried to poach her employees, including AI researcher Andrew Tulloch, offering him a $1.5 billion compensation package. Tulloch declined, citing loyalty to Murati and her new venture. Meta has denied the report's accuracy, but the offer suggests the company is willing to spend large sums to acquire top talent.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been actively pursuing a strategy to bolster its AI capabilities by acquiring top talent. In a recent attempt, Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, reportedly offered Mira Murati, the former Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI, $1 billion for her AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab. However, Murati declined the offer, leading Zuckerberg to launch a full-scale recruitment drive targeting the startup's employees.

One of the primary targets was Andrew Tulloch, a leading researcher and co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab. Zuckerberg offered Tulloch a compensation package worth up to $1.5 billion over six years, but Tulloch also declined the offer. Tulloch cited loyalty to Murati and her new venture as the reason for his refusal. None of the employees from Thinking Machines Lab accepted Meta's offers, including the $1 billion package extended to Murati and the $1.5 billion package to Tulloch.

Meta has disputed the accuracy of the reports, claiming that the offers were made to only a handful of people at Thinking Machines. However, the company has confirmed that one of the offers was indeed significant. This development highlights the intense competition in the AI sector, where tech giants are vying for top talent.

The refusal of Thinking Machines Lab's team to join Meta may be attributed to several factors. Some researchers may be concerned about Meta's leadership style and the lack of experience of Alexandr Wang, who is leading the Superintelligence Labs. Additionally, there could be a discrepancy between the vision of Thinking Machines Lab and Meta's product roadmap, which some researchers may find less inspiring.

Meta's aggressive recruitment efforts come at a time when the company is trying to revive its AI efforts after the failure of its Llama 4 models to gain widespread recognition compared to rival models from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. The company has set up a new Superintelligence Labs unit to aim for 'superintelligence'—the cognitive performance of the brightest and most gifted human beings.

Meta has also acquired a 49 percent stake in AI startup Scale AI for $14.8 billion and AI-generated human voices startup Play AI. The company has tried to poach hundreds of OpenAI researchers and has brought at least 10 of them onboard, along with many others from Apple, Google, and Anthropic.

The intense competition for AI talent underscores the importance of a shared vision and culture in attracting and retaining top talent in the AI industry. Companies like Meta are willing to spend large sums to acquire top talent, but the refusal of Thinking Machines Lab's team to join Meta highlights the importance of aligning with a company's mission and values.

References:
[1] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/angry-at-mira-murati-for-refusing-metas-1-billion-job-offer-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-launched-a-full-scale-/articleshow/123121189.cms
[2] https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/who-is-andrew-tulloch-mira-murati-s-co-founder-who-rejected-a-1-5-billion-payday-from-mark-zuckerberg-11754120098283.html
[3] https://www.ainvest.com/news/meta-zuckerberg-offers-1bn-pay-deal-ai-researchers-talent-war-2507/