The War for AI Talent

In 2024, the war reached a new level.

June 20, 2025

By MOi (Moises Galindo)

Google and OpenAI began recruiting Meta's top engineers.

Instead of relying on recruiters, Mark Zuckerberg took the reins. He started personally emailing competitors' employees.

No million-dollar offer. Not even five million. Try $10 million a year, or more. Some offers were eight-figure packages. No specific title. No job description. Simply:

> "We want you."

By January 2024, Meta was losing AI talent. OpenAI kept key researchers. Google took its computer vision team. It wasn't just a few people: it was an exodus. Entire teams.

Traditional recruiting failed. Headhunters were left without a chance. Unable to compete with Google's prestige.

There were perhaps 100 people around the world who thoroughly understood cutting-edge AI. Meta created a list of 50 to 100 candidates. Zuckerberg then emailed each one personally.

Why this decision? Because AI talent is irreplaceable.

> "Training cutting-edge models is like alchemy," said one expert.

"A small number of researchers can generate billions of dollars in value."

And Meta's investments reflect this: $15 billion stake in Scale AI. $60 to $65 billion budget for AI infrastructure by 2025. AI revenue forecast: $460 billion to $1.4 trillion by 2035.

The biggest change? More than how much Meta invests.

It's why it invests.

> Tools are no longer the advantage.

Everyone will have access to the same models. The advantage now lies with people, rather than platforms.

And the race is on.

📉 In 2024, Meta will lose 4.3% of its AI team. While Google lost 5.4%.

📈 OpenAI and other companies continued to build the future.

The war for talent is on.

💡 Founders, technologists, and leaders: Among the smartest players, in addition to developing AI, are also building gravity (giving weight to their actions), and others are betting on certain opportunities.

Because in this new era, code has become a commodity. Talent, and the investment in it, is the most valuable.

Tools are available to everyone. The differentiating factor is who you have, more than what you build.

The race and war for AI will be won by those who attract, empower, orchestrate, enhance, and retain the minds whose actions and vision shape the future.

Infrastructure will soon be just a commodity. It's a matter of time before new technologies enforce Moore's Law, making everything present obsolete (look at what data centers were like two decades ago and what they are like now).

The future of AI lies in those who build it; this goes beyond artificial intelligence itself. Sooner or later, it will have to happen. First, you attract (pirate) talent. You can also buy out companies and the geniuses who run them, or finally, copy (another version of piracy) their products...

It's the same story that happened in other industries and is repeating itself with AI.

Stay tuned; it also happens at your level and scale, which is why I'm sharing this data with you.

Why is it so important to retain your talent and unleash its full potential?

Many summers ago, I used to attract between 20 and 30 young people with certain skills. To teach them and train them in certain software development competencies. After twelve weeks, I had a list of young people to immediately hire, those who demonstrated the best abilities.

Because of their talent, skills, and interests, I was always aware that you only have them temporarily. Some became entrepreneurs. That's why these cycles must be repeated continuously.

This fight for big money that AI is experiencing is so similar to soccer and other sports that it invites reflection.

You play like Inter Miami with a squad of those who in their youth were youngsters with glories and achievements spanning nearly four decades, or you create strategies to combine and compete with the experience of the most experienced players, while simultaneously developing your new generations of collaborators.

This is my reflection: How will you feed your organization with knowledge, dynamism, youth, and talent?

Have a great weekend

Hugs

MOi