In the context of the increasingly fierce artificial intelligence race, OpenAI has decided to end the "shared ownership period" clause for new employees, in order to increase the attraction and retain the world's leading AI talents.
According to the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI ( ChatGPT developer) has informed employees that they no longer have to wait 6 months before receiving a company stake.
This move is considered a strategic step to encourage employees to accept risks and commit to innovation without worrying about being fired before owning the first stake.
The announcement is said to be made by Ms. Fidji Simo, Application Director of OpenAI, in the context of the company facing increasingly increased competitive pressure from competitors such as Google, Meta, Anthropic or Elon Musk's xAI.
Abolishing the vesting cliff policy (the minimum time frame for starting to get a stake), reflects the fierceness of the fight for high-tech talent in the AI industry.
Previously, most technology companies applied a one-year wait for new employees' shares.
This approach is to limit the risk of issuing stocks to those who do not intend to stay long-term. However, OpenAI shortened the time to six months earlier this year, before officially removing it completely. According to WSJ, xAI has also taken similar steps to increase recruitment competitiveness.
OpenAI's decision comes shortly after the company declared a "red alert" due to fierce competitive pressure in the AI market. As platform models become a vital factor, retaining top minds is considered a strategic priority, even more important than controlling short-term costs.
In reality, many technology giants are launching unprecedented packages to attract AI talent.
Meta, Google and Anthropic are said to be willing to spend $100 million or more on top researchers.
Meanwhile, OpenAI chose to pay very high salaries in stocks to keep its team of engineers and scientists.
However, this approach also raises concerns from investors. Some opinions say that sharply increasing the cost of paying salaries in stocks at rapidly growing AI startups can erode shareholder benefits in the long term.
Mr. Zaheer Mohiuddin, co-founder of the salary data platform Levels.fyi, commented that companies under high competitive pressure are forced to break traditional rules on share allocation in the first year of work.
According to sources, OpenAI currently pays employees more in shares than any other technology company. This year alone, the spend could reach $6 billion, or nearly half of the expected revenue. The figures show OpenAI's determination to protect core human resources.
The civil war became more intense as Meta, which has stepped up large-scale recruitment in Silicon Valley since August, directly hunted for talent from OpenAI, Google and Anthropic.
In response to the wave, OpenAI has paid millions of dollars in one-time rewards to several key researchers and engineers to prevent the departure of key personnel.
