Mark Zuckerberg fails to lure top AI talent in recruitment push

As Mark Zuckerberg raced to catch up in the generative AI competition, he reached out months ago to OpenAI’s former chief technology officer, Mira Murati, with an offer to buy her fledgling startup, Thinking Machines Lab.

When she declined, the Meta CEO launched an aggressive recruitment campaign. Over the following weeks, he approached more than a dozen of Murati’s roughly 50 employees, probing their interest in defecting. His primary target: Andrew Tulloch, a top researcher and co-founder of the startup.

To lure him away, Zuckerberg presented a compensation package potentially worth up to $1.5 billion over at least six years – including top bonuses and exceptional stock performance – according to people familiar with the matter. Tulloch refused. None of his colleagues left either.

Meta spokesman Andy Stone dismissed the reported offer as »inaccurate and ridiculous«, clarifying that any compensation package depends on stock appreciation. He added that Meta has no interest in acquiring Thinking Machines.

Andrew Tulloch, raised in Perth, has cemented his reputation as an AI industry leader after spending over a decade at Facebook’s parent company and later at rival OpenAI. In February, the University of Sydney graduate co-founded Thinking Machines Lab alongside former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. The startup is now valued at an estimated $12 billion ($18.5 billion).

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