OpenAI engineering staff are among the best paid in the industry, according to an investigation by Bloomberg. Data suggests that a talented recruit at the ChatGPT firm can expect salary plus bonuses and stock awards to be worth about $800,000 per year. We looked at earlier Artificial Intelligence (AI) engineer salary data, and the recent report seems to confirm that OpenAI is the biggest payer in AI, with new engineers and researchers netting up to twice as much as they could from working at Nvidia, for example.
AI is more than just an IT industry buzzword in 2023, and the year might be remembered as one where the foundations of generative AI as we know it were laid. Companies with their fingers in AI pies have been great earners for investors this year, and this good fortune appears to trickle down to their employees – with pay rates for those employed for their AI expertise rocketing.
Bloomberg’s report (citing Levels.fyi data) says that AI engineers can expect up to 12.5% better salaries than non-AI counterparts. If you check out the engineering job vacancies at OpenAI, you might see a broad range of salaries ranging from $200K to $450K. However, adding in bonuses and stock awards, lucky employees will enjoy an annual salary closer to $800K in total.
The reason for the lucrative salaries (and bonuses), appears to be the old law of supply and demand in action. According to the source report, it is extremely difficult to get experienced and appropriately skilled people – and to retain them. Moreover, experience is said to be especially important here as “there’s a big difference between understanding AI models on a theoretical level and having the skills and experience to actually apply them,” states Bloomberg.
The AI talent market doesn’t look set to enjoy any pressure relief in the medium term. We still appear to be riding high on the AI wave, with 2024 already unofficially being called the year of the AI PC. Thus, AI skills are going to be in even stronger demand to develop new apps and experiences to propel all the new AI hardware and software like Windows 12.
OpenAI looks to raise new funding at $100B valuation
In other OpenAI news, there are reports that the firm is seeking to raise new funds at a market valuation of $100B or more. The source says details of the fundraising are still not set in stone, so terms, timings, and valuations could change. There is also talk of a new chip venture between OpenAI and Abu Dhabi-based G42.
