Following Sam Altman’s ouster at OpenAI, Marc Benioff of Salesforce offered to buy out the contracts of any OpenAI researchers who resigned to join Salesforce.
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Marc Benioff promised to match the contracts of OpenAI researchers who resign to join Salesforce.In a post on X, he pledged “full cash & equity OTE” in exchange for immediately joining his company.The offer comes amid the chaotic ouster of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and rumors Altman could return to the job.
As OpenAI bleeds talent following Friday’s chaotic ouster of Sam Altman, Marc Benioff of Salesforce wants to make a deal.
“Salesforce will match any OpenAI researcher who has tendered their resignation full cash & equity OTE to immediately join our Salesforce Einstein Trusted AI research team under Silvio Savarese,” Benioff, the Salesforce CEO, posted on X in a pledge to buy out the OpenAI researchers’ contracts, along with any unrealized profits and sales incentives.
He added: “Send me your cv directly to ceo@salesforce.com. Einstein is the most successful enterprise AI Platform completing 1 Trillion predictive & generative transactions this week! Join our Trusted AI Enterprise Revolution.”
Earlier this year, Business Insider reported research engineers at OpenAI were offered $200,000 to $370,000 in base compensation, though some senior researchers can make upwards of $800,000 per The New York Times.
Benioff did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
His offer — which prompted many joking replies from people aiming to take him up on it — comes as OpenAI is hemorrhaging top talent following the news of Altman’s ouster.
Greg Brockman, former president of OpenAI, announced his departure after the news broke on Friday, along with key staffers Jakub Pachocki, Szymon Sidor, and Aleksander Madry.
As many as 95% of OpenAI workers have also threatened to quit if Altman, the company’s co-founder, is not reinstated.
Salesforce’s Einstein is the company’s generative AI program built for managing relationships with customers.
The program — led by Savarese, the company’s chief scientist and adjunct professor of computer science at Stanford — uses machine learning to develop marketing campaigns, answer emails and support chats, and give sales recommendations based on analyzing data stored in Salesforce products.