From Time Magazine: 2024-04-04 17:08:00

1. Elon Musk admits that the race to secure skilled AI talent is the “craziest talent war” he has ever seen in Silicon Valley as top tech companies like Google, Apple, and Meta fight for experts.

2. The severe shortage of high-level AI talent has led to median salaries of $925,000 at OpenAI and $400,000 at Meta. Companies and universities are offering training programs, but it will take time to catch up to the demand for AI skills.

3. In the past, Musk poached Ilya Sutskever from Google Brain with a $2 million offer to join OpenAI, motivated by a disagreement with Google cofounder Larry Page’s AI ideology. Musk then left OpenAI in 2018, and Sutskever later became embroiled in a leadership shakeup at the company.

4. Tech companies urgently need AI talent, evidenced by Google’s scaling up of its Gemini AI model and Apple’s upcoming iOS 18 update with AI features. Musk’s xAI has also open-sourced Grok, an AI chatbot. As new AI companies and models emerge, the demand for AI engineers is expected to increase further.

5. The tech industry is experiencing an AI hiring rush amid a lingering trend of layoffs. Despite layoffs peaking in 2023, around 60,000 tech workers lost their jobs at the start of this year. Stay updated on AI’s impact on business by subscribing to the Eye on AI newsletter.



Read more at Time Magazine: ‘Craziest talent war I’ve ever seen’: Elon Musk says AI is hitting a new frenzy—and he helped set it off 9 years ago with Larry Page and Sam Altman