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A.I. researchers are negotiating $250M pay packages

nytimes.com

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Re: A.I. researchers are negotiating $250M pay packages

#521

Post by thoijro442334 »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #130
MichaelZuo wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They just want the best, and they’re afraid of having second rates, B-players, etc., causing a bozo explosion. That seems like all the motivation that’s needed. Why why would they need fears about a quasi-facebook chatbot?

Coming from Meta, I have to wonder if the reason for this isn't more down to Zuck's ego and history. He seems to have somewhat lost interest in FaceBook, and was previously all-in on the Metaverse as the next big thing, which has failed to take off as a concept, and now wants to go all-in on "super-intelligence" (seems to lack ambition - why not "super-duper extra special intelligence"?) with his new vision being sma…

Can you blame him ?

Facebook is a sewer (like all of internet to some extent); Instagram is a teenage depression-inducing drug; and Whatsapp is sufficiently important that it can't be monetized to destruction.

I'm surprised Meta is valued like Google, and not like HP or some other has-been, given that it's running on the spamming crummy ads towards lonely boomers and divorced millenials.

The only bright-spot is their AI lab with Yann and the PyTorch team.

Re: A.I. researchers are negotiating $250M pay packages

#522

Post by turnsout »

cesarb wrote: post #513
HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that framing really gives enough credit to how novel the iPhone was, and how it shook up the market when it was introduced. Yes, PDAs had already been a thing for a long time (Psion Organizer), and Apple themselves had experimented with this category too with the Newton, before the Palm Pilot then became so dominant. What was novel about the smart phone - really it's defining characteristic, was it wasn…

> What was novel about the smart phone - really it's defining characteristic, was it wasn't a primarily single purpose device like a PDA, or phone, or MP-3 player/iPod, or camera, or handheld web browser, but rather a universal hand held computer/communications device, and one whose functionality was not limited to what you got out of the box. I used a Palm PDA back in the pre-iPhone days. Its functionality was not "…

You're completely discounting quality of execution, which in this case is everything. It's the whole ballgame.

I had friends who were Palm Treo die-hards, and they dropped them unceremoniously in 2008 when they used an iPhone for the first time. They were already used to carrying around a phone that could do email and access the internet. But the qualitative jump to the iPhone was so big that it upended the industry and became quite literally the most successful consumer product of all time. If you can't see how that's different from Palm, I don't know what to tell you.

Re: A.I. researchers are negotiating $250M pay packages

#523

Post by vitaflo »

stocksinsmocks wrote: post #147
BSOhealth wrote: post #111

These figures are for a very small number of potential people. This leaves out that frontier AI is being developed by an incredibly small number of extremely smart people who have migrated between big tech, frontier AI, and others. Yes, the figures are nuts. But compare them to F1 or soccer salaries for top athletes. A single big name can drive billions in that context at least, and much more in the context of AI. $5…

It’s just a matter of taste, but I am pleased to see publicity on people with compensation packages that greatly exceed actors and athletes. It’s about time the nerds got some recognition. My hope is that researchers get the level of celebrity that they deserve and inspire young people to put their minds to building great things.

Nerds run the entire world how much recognition do they need?!

Re: A.I. researchers are negotiating $250M pay packages

#524

Post by thoijro442334 »

TrackerFF wrote: post #180
InterviewFrog wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the uncomfortable truth. Only a small group of people are capable of operating at an elite level. The talent pool is extremely small and the companies want the absolute best. It is the same thing in sports as well. There will only ever be one Michael Jordan one Lionel Messi one Tiger Woods one Magnus Carlsen. And they are paid a lot because they are worth it. >> Meta seem to be spending so much so they don't…

Hot fucking take - but if these 100 (or whatever small number is being thrown around these days) elite researchers disappeared overnight, the world would go on and little of it would be noticed. New people in the field would catch up, and things would be up to speed quick enough. It is not a question of exquisitely rare intellect, but rather the opportunity and funding/resources to prosper.

[dead]

Re: A.I. researchers are negotiating $250M pay packages

#525

Post by darepublic »

Infinity315 wrote: post #483
tantalor wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> could be worth... Exactly. What's the likelihood of that?

It might make more sense to think of in terms of expected value. Whilst the probability may be low, the payoff is probably many times the $250M if their startup becomes successful.

You can only one roll in the crapshoot of life though.

Re: A.I. researchers are negotiating $250M pay packages

#526

Post by zurfer »

SamvitJ wrote: post #220

One way to make sense of this specific case at least. - He's on track to becoming a top-tier AI researcher. Despite having only one year of a PhD under his belt, he already received two top awards as a first-author at major AI conferences [1]. Typically, it takes many more years of experience to do research that receives this level of recognition. Most PhDs never get there. - Molmo, the slate of open vision-language…

He probably heard the memes, didn't really want to work for Meta and said a "ridiculous" high number and Meta was like: we can do that.

Re: A.I. researchers are negotiating $250M pay packages

#527

Post by gizajob »

sebtron wrote: post #378
mensetmanusman wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bubble might not burst, if we can improve productivity in every field even 0.5%, that’s massive.

Woah, a whopping 0.5%. That's like working 12 minutes more every week. I waste much more time every day because of how slow and sluggish Windows 11 is.

It would be trivial for most of Europe to improve productivity by 0.5% or even 5% but they’re too busy drinking nice wine outside a cafe in the sunshine most of the day.

Re: A.I. researchers are negotiating $250M pay packages

#528

Post by elbear »

xorcist wrote: post #431
elbear wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like their only motivation is their desire to succeed, glory, etc.

But that's the thing. These are hired people. Their job is to bring glory to the great leader. Exactly the same way Altman get the OpenAI fame. If you really had thoughts in your head worth a quarter of a billion, the rational thing to do is not to spill those beans. Approximately no one is motivated by money they already have.

I mean, if you publish something considered a breakthrough don't you also get glory?

Re: A.I. researchers are negotiating $250M pay packages

#529

Post by Voultapher »

lostmsu wrote: post #512
Voultapher wrote: post #501

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://money.stackexchange.com/a/155106 the argument is that it doesn't dilute the stock because the thing they bought makes the company that much more worth. If they trade newly created shares for a metric ton of gold, that logic seems quite plausible, but it get's more sketchy when things like IP or companies are bought. Or as in this case even more sketchy, where I'd argue this one person will not raise the value…

This generally does not apply to publicly traded companies.

Source please.

Take for example Nortel, they massively increased their number of shares they years before their crash.

Re: A.I. researchers are negotiating $250M pay packages

#530

Post by godelski »

p1esk wrote: post #422
saagarjha wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember when he said nanobots would cure all our diseases by a few years ago?

I don’t actually, did he specify a year? He made a lot of predictions, many are wrong, but the AGI one is pretty amazing.

  > many are wrong, but the AGI one is pretty amazing.
If you make enough predictions eventually one will be right

Or at least one will be exciting

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