OpenAI Employees Influence Board… Combined Bonuses and Stock Options May Reach $800,000
While major investors played a role, the employees reinstated the 38-year-old founder, who was ousted from the board. It’s no exaggeration to say that most employees “brought back” CEO Sam Altman to OpenAI by threatening mass resignations. But how could employees overturn the board’s decision and even shake up board membership?
According to Bloomberg on the 23rd, the most common salary range for OpenAI engineers who developed the generative AI Chat GPT is $200,000 to $370,000. This could increase to $300,000 to $450,000 for developers in more specialized roles. However, these figures do not include bonuses and stock options.
According to the compensation data platform Levels.fyi, when bonuses and stock options are included, an OpenAI developer with a salary of $300,000 could potentially earn up to $800,000.
Mass employee departures can have fatal consequences in the IT industry, where it’s challenging to find talent. Julia Pollak, Chief Economist at job site ZipRecruiter, said, “In emerging technologies like AI, there are only a few people with extensive experience. These people are the product, and they are the company.”
The reinstatement of Sam Altman demonstrates developers’ significant influence in the tech industry. Employees are in an “exceptionally” strong position to exert direct pressure on the board.
Even if a recent college graduate theoretically understands AI models well, acquiring the skills and experience to apply them in practice can take a long time. For companies like OpenAI, whose weapon is highly specialized software systems, the value of a developer is higher. Before Altman returned to OpenAI, employees had already received job offers to join a new AI research lab at Microsoft following Altman. Microsoft owns approximately 49% of OpenAI’s shares.
By. Kim Hee Jeong
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