Silicon Valley trades researchers like football teams poach players

Big tech is offering athlete-level pay to lure AI researchers in a high-stakes race for dominance

The tech industry is in a high-flying war over who can dole out more millions to attract artificial intelligence specialists. Individual researchers, most equipped with PhDs in computer science, are commanding giant salaries and mammoth signing bonuses in hiring negotiations. You might call them talent. The Washington Post called them Olympians in a recent headline: Why AI superathletes could be winning $100 million bonuses in Silicon Valley." These are the most sought-after employees in the world.

Tech companies are tasking the star players of their AI squads with developing technology that can outperform humans in any task, a goal known as artificial general intelligence", or with creating AI models that surpass human intelligence overall, an objective known as superintelligence".