Meta Denies $100M Signing Bonus Claims as OpenAI Researcher Calls It 'Fake News'

In recent weeks, headlines buzzed with claims that Meta was offering massive $100 million signing bonuses to lure top AI talent from OpenAI. However, one of the researchers making the move has now dismissed that figure as “fake news.”

Lucas Beyer, a researcher at OpenAI who is soon to join Meta, took to X (formerly Twitter) to clear the air. In his post, Beyer confirmed he is moving to Meta, along with colleagues Alexander Kolesnikov and Xiaohua Zhai, but denied receiving anything close to a $100 million signing bonus. “Yes, we will be joining Meta. No, we did not get 100M sign-on, that’s fake news,” Beyer wrote, adding that he’s excited for what lies ahead.

This clarification comes in response to earlier remarks by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Speaking on a company-hosted podcast, Altman accused Meta of aggressively trying to poach talent from his company by making “giant offers” — some allegedly as high as $100 million. “Meta started making giant offers to a lot of people on our team,” Altman said, claiming that none of their top people had accepted so far.

Meta has pushed back on this narrative. Andrew Bosworth, Meta's CTO, flatly denied the claim, stating that Altman was “being dishonest.” He clarified that while compensation in the AI industry has certainly heated up, the idea that Meta is throwing around $100 million bonuses is far from the norm. “Sam is suggesting we’re doing this for every single person… Look, the market’s hot. It’s not that hot,” Bosworth told The Verge. He also noted that Altman is likely making such claims in an attempt to retain his top talent.

Adding to the response, Meta CPO Chris Cox, speaking during an internal meeting, noted that Meta’s AI strategy isn’t to build a ChatGPT clone. Instead, the company wants to center its offerings on entertainment, social connection, and enhancing users’ daily lives — distinguishing itself from the productivity-focused tools offered by OpenAI and Google.

While Meta has been working to close the gap with rivals in the AI space, it still lags behind in consumer perception and product development. The company recently doubled down on its AI ambitions, forming a new superintelligence team and making bold strategic moves — including acquiring a 49% stake in Scale AI and bringing on its 28-year-old CEO Alexandr Wang to lead the initiative.

As the battle for AI supremacy intensifies, high-profile talent moves are grabbing headlines — but not always for the reasons initially reported.