‘Scared’ of Mark Zuckerberg offers, OpenAI gives special one-time bonus to some employees

OpenAI has announced “special one-time” bonuses worth millions of dollars for about 1,000 employees – roughly one-third of its workforce – as the company battles to retain top AI talent, according to The Verge. The bonuses, announced just before the launch of GPT-5, target researchers and engineers in key departments including applied engineering, scaling, and safety.

The highest payouts will reportedly reach the mid single-digit millions for OpenAI’s most coveted researchers, who already earn millions annually. Engineers are expected to receive bonuses averaging hundreds of thousands of dollars. The payments will be distributed quarterly over two years, with recipients choosing between OpenAI stock, cash, or both.