OpenAI Announces One-Week Shutdown as Meta Intensifies Talent War

OpenAI just announced that they would be shutting down their company for a whole week next week.

OpenAI explained that the one week shutdown was intended to help staff recharge and combat burnout as the AI leaders accelerated its push towards artificial general intelligence.

Insider sources have confirmed that only the company's executives will continue working during the break.

This is longest break any employee from OpenAI-a company infamous for its grueling 80-hour workweek culture-has been given since the company started in 2015.

OpenAI Stays Vulnerable During One-Week Break

This shutdown came in response to Meta's attack on the company.

Just last month, it was reported that Meta had tried to poach some of OpenAI's best employees.

It was also alleged that Mark Zuckerberg himself has been offering OpenAI employees up to $100 million bonus if they were to join Meta.

Zuckerberg even invited some of OpenAI's leading researchers to his private residences in Lak Taheo and Palo Alto just to build a rapport with them.

Hence, this one week would be a crucial time for OpenAI, as Meta would be leveraging on break to reach out to OpenAI employees.

In a slack memo to his employees, Chief Research Officer Mark Chen preemptively wrote about Meta's attack saying

"Meta knows we're taking this week to recharge and will take advantage of it to try and pressure you to make decisions fast and in isolation."

According to sources, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has already successfully recruited seven OpenAI workers in recent weeks, including key contributors to the company's reasoning models.

Meta's superintelligence lab has hired Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, Xiaohua Zhai, and Trapit Bansal, a foundational contributor to OpenAI's o1 model.

OpenAI Responds with Compensation Overhaul

In response to Meta’s aggressive poaching, OpenAI leadership is “recalibrating compensation” and exploring new ways to recognize and reward top talent.

CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the high-value offers from Meta but emphasized that none of OpenAI’s best people have accepted them, attributing staff loyalty to the company’s mission-driven culture and innovation edge.

OpenAI’s new strategy will focus less on frequent product launches and more on achieving AGI as its primary objective.

The company is also considering creative retention incentives, including salary adjustments, equity options, and enhanced recognition for outstanding contributors.