The war for talent in AI has never been bloodier (or more expensive). Silicon Valley’s giants are now engaged in a high-stakes battle to lure the sector’s new superstars with offers that sound less like job proposals and more like royal decrees.
The Meta CEO has reportedly compiled a “secret list” of the top 50 AI engineers and scientists in the world. These aren’t just LinkedIn outreach messages, they’re direct personal calls from Zuckerberg himself armed with offers of up to $200 million. The packages include:
- Unlimited computing resources
- Freedom to choose your own projects
- Direct access to the CEO
- Massive salaries (that Sam Altman of OpenAI has described simply as “insane“)
It’s the AI equivalent of the NBA free-agency season but with more GPUs and fewer basketballs.
The Savoir-Faire Edge
In France, savoir-faire literally means “know how” But in the context of AI’s talent war, it goes deeper than mere technical ability. It’s about mastery, adaptability, and the kind of judgment that can turn raw computing power into groundbreaking products.
Zuckerberg’s $200M shopping spree isn’t about hiring just the smartest people, it’s about finding those with the rare blend of:
- Technical brilliance. the ability to push the boundaries of deep learning and generative models.
- Strategic intuition. knowing which projects will matter in two years, not just which ones look good today.
- Collaborative influence. the capability to inspire teams, shape culture, and survive the internal politics of Big Tech.
This is the savoir-faire. The difference between the wave of senior “AI experts” flooding social media with their prompt-writing techniques, and someone capable of leading the next AI revolution.
If AI talent is being valued like rare art pieces, the question is: will these superstar hires deliver long-term advantage or will companies burn cash chasing hype?
In the coming years, Silicon Valley may learn that the winners in AI aren’t just those who can afford the most expensive minds… but those who know how to orchestrate them.
