Ex-OpenAI employee confirms joining Meta but denies getting $100 million offer, calls it ‘fake news’

OpenAI

The AI talent war just got more intense. Lucas Beyer, one of the three senior researchers recently poached from OpenAI by Meta, has publicly confirmed his move—but is pushing back against rumors of a massive payout.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Beyer wrote, “Hey all, couple quick notes: 1) Yes, we will be joining Meta. 2) No, we did not get 100M sign-on, that's fake news.” He added that he’s excited about what lies ahead and promised to share more details in the future.

Beyer, along with fellow researchers Alexander Kolesnikov and Xiaohua Zhai, was part of OpenAI’s Zurich office. The Wall Street Journal first reported their exit, describing it as part of Meta’s aggressive push to close the gap with AI leaders like OpenAI and Google.

This hiring spree follows claims from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who recently accused Meta of offering OpenAI employees $100 million bonuses to jump ship. “I’ve heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor,” Altman said, adding that Meta’s recruitment tactics prove that point.

Meta is currently racing to build a “superintelligence team”—a specialized group focused on developing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), AI systems capable of performing tasks as well as or better than humans.

This move isn’t happening in isolation. Earlier this year, Meta struck a deal to acquire a 49% stake in Scale AI, investing a staggering $14.3 billion. The company also brought in Scale AI’s 28-year-old founder Alexandr Wang to strengthen its AI ambitions.

Once considered a leader in open-source AI, Meta has faced delays, staff departures, and slower progress compared to rivals. But Mark Zuckerberg appears determined to change that narrative, doubling down on talent acquisition and big bets in AI development.

With top researchers now defecting and tensions rising between OpenAI and Meta, the AI arms race is heating up—and it’s getting personal.