This week, the world’s most important artificial intelligence company was closed. OpenAI gave its entire staff a week off to “recharge,” a seemingly generous perk for a workforce relentlessly pushing toward building a world-changing technology.
But this was not a wellness initiative. It was a strategic retreat in the middle of a brutal, high-stakes war for talent that is now threatening to shatter the company’s carefully crafted identity.
The enemy is Meta Platforms, the social media empire that includes Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. According to OpenAI’s own CEO, Sam Altman, their tactics are getting ugly. In a recent Slack message to employees reviewed by WIRED, Altman addressed the departure of several key researchers poached by Mark Zuckerberg’s company.
“Meta is acting in a way that feels somewhat distasteful,” Altman wrote, acknowledging the “giant offers to a lot of people on our team.” He framed the current moment as a predictable, if chaotic, new phase. “We have gone from some nerds in the corner to the most interesting people in the tech industry (at least),” he wrote. “AI Twitter is toxic,” he continued, adding: “I assume things will get even crazier in the future. After I got fired and came back I said that was not the craziest thing that would happen in OpenAI history; certainly neither is this.”
The message highlights the rising tension in the war for AI talent. But it also reveals something deeper: OpenAI, the most prominent lab in the generative AI race, may be struggling to keep its own people on board. For years, OpenAI has operated with the fervor of a quasi-religious mission. The goal was not just to build products; it was to birth Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) for the benefit of humanity. The work was hard, the hours long, but the mission itself was presented as the ultimate compensation. Now, Zuckerberg is calling that bluff, making a cynical bet that every missionary has a price, and it seems he’s being proven right.
The conflict has become so intense that it’s now creating collateral damage among OpenAI’s closest allies. In a stunningly ironic twist, Ilya Sutskever, the OpenAI co-founder who left to start his own safety-focused AI lab, is a direct victim. This week, he announced that Daniel Gross, the CEO of his company, Safe Superintelligence (SSI), has left. Gross is joining Meta.
“As you know, Daniel Gross’s time with us has been winding down,” Sutskever posted on X (formerly Twitter) on July 3. ”And as of June 29 he is officially no longer a part of SSI. We are grateful for his early contributions to the company and wish him well in his next endeavor. I am now formally CEO of SSI, and Daniel Levy is President. The technical team continues to report to me.”
Sutskever also confirmed reports that Meta had approached Safe Superintelligence for a potential acquisition. “You might have heard rumors of companies looking to acquire us. We are flattered by their attention but are focused on seeing our work through,” he wrote, adding, “We have the compute, we have the team, and we know what to do. Together we will keep building safe superintelligence.”
I sent the following message to our team and investors:
— As you know, Daniel Gross’s time with us has been winding down, and as of June 29 he is officially no longer a part of SSI. We are grateful for his early contributions to the company and wish him well in his next… — Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) July 3, 2025
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