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OpenAI has called a one-week pause in normal operations so its team can recharge, after several senior researchers moved to Meta Platforms Inc.’s new superintelligence lab. The departures raised alarms about talent retention and the overall morale of a group that, until now, prided itself on stability.

Meta’s Aggressive Hiring Tactics

Sources say Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is offering eye-popping pay packages, with some signing bonuses rumoured to top 100 million dollars, in a direct bid to lure AI experts away from OpenAI. The offers have sparked heated discussions inside OpenAI about pay, workload, and the bonds of loyalty that have kept the team together.

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In an internal memo Wired obtained, Chief Research Officer Mark Chen compared the situation to a burglary, writing:

“I feel a visceral feeling right now, as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something.”

Chen reassured staff that leadership—including CEO Sam Altman— is working around the clock to adjust salary structures, while also emphasizing that fairness must guide any new reward framework.

OpenAI Leadership Urges Calm

Several senior executives echoed Chief Executive Sam Chen’s reassurance, encouraging employees not to let aggressive outside recruitment unsettle them. One company leader said plainly:

“If they pressure you, or make ridiculous exploding offers just tell them to back off. It’s not nice to pressure people in potentially the most important decision.”

Staff Burnout and a Strategic Pause

Reports show that many OpenAI engineers clock roughly 80 hours a week, raising red flags about long-term burnout in an arms-race atmosphere. To address that, management has scheduled a week-long company-wide break so people can unplug and recover.

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Executives will work through the closure, mindful that rivals such as Meta could seize the gap to accelerate hiring and court key talent.

A Crucial Moment for OpenAI

The coming pause highlights the fierce talent war swarming every top AI shop and OpenAIs effort to hold its culture together. How the firm balances rest with alertness in the week ahead may well tilt its standing-and its strategy-for years to come.

Though the planned week-long break is presented as a step toward employee well-being, it reveals a more pressing concern at OpenAI: the need to safeguard valuable know-how, restore team spirit, and strengthen loyalty at a moment when elite experts in artificial intelligence attract fierce competition and attention.