Following the ouster of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, more than 700 of the company’s 770 employees signed a letter on Monday threatening to quit if the board doesn’t reinstate their chief. The future of OpenAI looks bleak, which presents a huge opportunity to the Big Tech giants who want to build their AI footprints.
One man’s loss is another man’s gain, at least according to Marc Benioff. The Salesforce CEO has offered to match compensation to any OpenAI researcher who resigned from the company.
“Salesforce will match any OpenAI researcher who has tendered their resignation full cash & equity OTE to immediately join our Salesforce,” Benioff posted online. In a separate post, the executive extended this offer to any OpenAI employee working on a U.S. visa whose employment status may be impacted by changes at the company.
OpenAI employees who jump ship will work under Salesforce Chief Scientist Silvio Savarese on the company’s Einstein AI research team, which explores conversational AI, natural language processing, and how AI can reduce environmental harm, among other topics. Salesforce had already been looking to grow its research team prior to Monday, with four job openings and two intern positions posted on its online jobs page.
Other AI company leaders have posted of open roles on X, including for AI jobs at Meta and Nvidia. But none have made such bold offers as Benioff. Fielding new applicants to his own email, Benioff added, “Einstein is the most successful enterprise AI Platform completing 1 Trillion predictive & generative transactions this week!”
While Benioff is certainly a big shark, there’s another one in the water. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has suggested the company will also employ OpenAI defectors. Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman, “together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team,” Nadella said in a post on X.
The company hasn’t commented on plans to hire OpenAI’s whole lot, but the letter signed by OpenAI employees suggests that may be the case. “We, the undersigned, may choose to resign from openAI to join the newly announced Microsoft subsidiary run by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman,” the letter reads. “Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join.”
The details of Microsoft’s new AI research team are unclear, and despite Nadella’s confirmation of the Altman hire, it reportedly isn’t a done deal. Altman and Brockman are still willing to return to OpenAI if board members involved in the coup resign, according to the Verge. If one thing is clear, it’s that the shakeup from the ouster is ongoing. Some employees may welcome a more stable environment elsewhere.
Read more:
- OpenAI’s meltdown: What to know about Sam Altman’s ouster, the employee revolt, and Microsoft’s plot twist
- Satya Nadella added $63 billion in market value for Microsoft with a ‘poker move for the ages’
- In the battle to bring ousted founder Sam Altman back to OpenAI, Microsoft and Satya Nadella hold the trump cards
