Superstar researchers are the new court on which the Silicon Valley competition to rule artificial intelligence is being fought.
According to a dozen people who have worked with AI researchers, recruiting has reached professional athlete levels since ChatGPT started in late 2022, despite the tech industry’s longstanding struggle to draw and retain elite talent.
Ariel Herbert-Voss, the CEO of cybersecurity startup RunSybil and a former OpenAI researcher who joined the talent competition after starting his own business, said, “The AI labs approach hiring like a game of chess.”
“They are prepared to pay a high price for applicants with specialized and complementary knowledge because they want to move as quickly as feasible.
