OpenAI Reportedly Spends $1.5 Billion on Bonuses for All Employees to Prevent Poaching

AI giant OpenAI is reportedly distributing massive bonuses to its entire workforce to retain its core technical team. Yuchen Jin, co-founder and CTO of Hyperbolic, revealed on social media that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced each employee will receive $1.5 million in bonuses over the next two years to prevent talent attrition. Jin cited a friend at OpenAI, stating that this move will elevate all OpenAI employees to millionaire status—"78% of Nvidia employees are millionaires, but OpenAI’s ratio is now 100%." He described this as a defensive measure against the "Zuckerberg poaching effect."

According to The Information, the bonuses will primarily be awarded to around 1,000 employees in research and engineering, totaling up to $1.5 billion. This scale of compensation is rare in the tech industry, highlighting how AI competition has escalated into a high-stakes talent war.

Before announcing the bonus plan, OpenAI disclosed that its weekly active users have surpassed 700 million, with annual recurring revenue reaching $13 billion. This operational scale and growth trajectory provide the financial foundation for such substantial payouts.

Market analysts suggest that amid Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s aggressive poaching of AI talent, OpenAI’s move not only boosts employee retention but also signals financial strength and business growth to investors.