“OpenAI Temporarily Shuts Down as Meta Poaches Top AI Talent: Insights from Mark Chen”

OpenAI will temporarily close operations for a full week beginning early July 2025. This rare downtime is intended to help employees recover from prolonged 80-hour workweeks, amid growing fatigue and burnout across the organization.

The decision comes amid mounting pressure from Meta, which has launched an aggressive recruitment campaign offering sign-on bonuses reportedly up to $100 million to AI researchers, including several high-profile defections from OpenAI’s Zurich office.

OpenAI’s Chief Research Officer, Mark Chen, sent a forceful internal message warning staff that Meta might target them during this downtime. He described the wave of departures as feeling “like someone has broken into our home and stolen something”.

In response, leadership—Chen alongside CEO Sam Altman—revealed plans to recalibrate compensation, explore creative retention incentives, and personally engage with employees who are being courted.

Chen emphasized the need to balance fairness while fighting to retain talent: “I’ll fight to keep every one of you, but not at the price of fairness to others”.

This situation highlights a significant escalation in the AI talent war. Meta has not only recruited roughly seven to eight researchers—including top names like Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, Xiaohua Zhai, and Trapit Bansal—but also launched its own Superintelligence Labs, backed by massive funding and leadership hires.

One-week shutdown at OpenAI to combat employee exhaustion.

• Meta recruitment drive includes offers up to $100M; about 7–8 OpenAI researchers have left.
• Mark Chen warned staff against Meta's tactics and vowed to recalibrate pay and bolster retention.
• Leadership stressed fairness, despite urgency to hold onto talent.
• Meta’s own AI ambitions gain momentum through its Superintelligence Labs initiative.