Ex–OpenAI Researcher Joins Meta, Denies $100M Signing Bonus Claim
Lucas Beyer confirms he’s moving to Meta’s AI team but labels rumors of a $100 million signing bonus as “fake news.” He and two other researchers from OpenAI’s Zurich office are joining amid Meta's aggressive AI talent push
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Lucas Beyer, formerly of OpenAI’s Zurich team, has officially confirmed his move to Meta—but strongly refuted claims that he received a $100 million signing bonus, calling the rumor “fake news” in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Beyer joined fellow ex-OpenAI researchers Alexander Kolesnikov and Xiaohua Zhai at Meta, making their departures public following a Wall Street Journal report citing their transfers.
The recruitments are part of Meta’s broader strategy to build a “superintelligence” team aimed at advancing AGI, intensifying competition with OpenAI and Google.Lee met earlier comments from Sam Altman, who claimed Meta was offering up to $100 million signing bonuses to lure talent.
Meta executives, including CTO Andrew Bosworth, have downplayed the scale of such offers, confirming that only a few senior leadership candidates were extended large packages. Bosworth emphasized that the massive-bonus narrative was exaggerated, though he acknowledged “quite a few more” OpenAI researchers are in the pipeline.
The high-profile departures come days after the Wall Street Journal revealed that Meta hired Beyer, Kolesnikov, and Zhai to support its superintelligence efforts.
