①According to reports, OpenAI has poached renowned AI researcher Ruoming Pang from Meta, while Ruoming Pang joined Meta from Apple approximately seven months ago; ②It is reported that when Ruoming Pang joined Meta last year, he received a multi-year compensation package worth over $200 million.
Cailian Press, February 26 (edited by Xia Junxiong) According to media reports, the artificial intelligence (AI) research company OpenAI has poached renowned AI researcher Ruoming Pang from Meta, while Ruoming Pang joined Meta from Apple approximately seven months ago.
It is reported that after several months of active recruitment by OpenAI, Ruoming Pang left Meta last week.
Ruoming Pang was previously responsible for AI infrastructure work in Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, which is developing the company’s next-generation AI models.
Superintelligence Labs is a new AI division established by Meta last summer and jointly led by the former CEO of Scale AI, Alexandr Wang, and the former CEO of GitHub, Nat Friedman.
As a well-known Chinese AI engineer, Ruoming Pang worked at Google for 15 years. He joined Apple in 2021, where he led the foundational model development team (AFM).
According to media reports, when Ruoming Pang joined Meta last year, he received a multi-year compensation package worth over $200 million.
In the race for dominance in AI technology, tech companies are competing to offer astronomical compensation packages to attract top talent, with Meta being a typical example.
Starting from last year, Meta has been spending heavily to recruit the most elite AI researchers and engineers, often offering compensation packages worth tens of millions of dollars, or even up to $100 million. OpenAI has been the biggest victim, with key AI engineers such as Shengjia Zhao and Jiahui Yu successfully poached by Meta.
In addition to offering substantial financial incentives, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has personally reached out, frequently sending emails and WhatsApp messages to talents in the AI field.
According to Mark Chen, Chief Research Officer of OpenAI, in a podcast episode last December, Zuckerberg even personally prepared soup for the individuals he wanted to recruit.
To defend against competitors poaching talent, OpenAI significantly increased employee compensation, including offering substantial bonuses and stock cash-out opportunities.
For Meta, the departure of Ruoming Pang demonstrates that competitors can also lure away its employees. Zuckerberg’s willingness to offer extremely high salaries to attract AI talent has already sparked dissatisfaction among long-time employees. Yann LeCun, Meta’s former Chief AI Scientist, and Joelle Pineau, former Vice President of AI Research, have both left the company.
Meanwhile, the capital market continues to question Meta’s massive investments in the AI sector. Since the release of its Q4 earnings report, Meta’s stock price has fallen by more than 11%.
