In a bid to keep its team intact, OpenAI is set to suspend its operation for an entire week in July to retain employees after a burst of high-profile defections to Meta’s latest “super¬intelligence” division.
Executives are worried about the morale following at least eight senior researchers leaving for Meta during the past fortnight, Wired reported.
The sudden departures, referred to internally as a “recruitment victory” by Mark Zuckerberg’s company, come at a sensitive time, as the ChatGPT manufacturer rushes to keep its state-of-the-art reasoning models.
In a message sent to an internal Slack channel and reviewed by reporters, Chief Research Officer Mark acknowledged the departures seemed deeply felt.
“I feel a visceral sense that someone has broken into our home and stolen something,” he said.
Furthermore, Chen stated management is “recalibrating compensation” and exploring “creative ways to recognise and reward top talent.”
Several reports suggested that the steps include a compulsory, paid week-long break aiming to minimise burnout among employees who work for 70-80 hours every week.
The break would prevent interest from rivals. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, recently claimed on a podcast that Meta suspended compensation packages worth up to $100 million for the company’s leading intellectuals.
