In the fresh Episode 231 of the Barnhardt Podcast, Ann provides a sneak preview of a major essay she is preparing on AI. Spoiler alert: Where AI is going is so much worse than you currently imagine, you probably won’t believe it at first. Destroyer of Worlds comes to mind, in a way that is much worse than The Terminator.
People have already gotten themselves inextricably caught up in this, and it has barely been out there for six months. It is everywhere, and already hard to avoid. You are probably thinking about things like cheating on term papers, fake audio/video that no one can detect, and porn. But the future is personal: AI relationships. The comment I made on the podcast is that there is a reason this is all free… for now.
So it should come as no surprise that all the usual big tech suspects are out way over their tips to procure the best and brightest 20-somethings to lead their efforts in this field, since world domination/submission is now the state of play. Hence, trillions of dollars also at stake, a fraction of which is being offered out to these whiz kids.
Right on cue, the following story appeared at NYT. The link might bring you to a paywall, so I will paste a few paragraphs here:
A.I. Researchers Are Negotiating $250 Million Pay Packages
Mike Isaac, Eli Tan and Cade Metz
Over the summer, Matt Deitke got a phone call from Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive.
Mr. Zuckerberg wanted Mr. Deitke, a 24-year-old artificial intelligence researcher who had recently helped found a start-up, to join Meta’s research effort dedicated to “superintelligence,” a technology that could hypothetically exceed the human brain. The company promised him around $125 million in stock and cash over four years if he came aboard.
The offer was not enough to lure Mr. Deitke, who wanted to stick with his start-up, two people with knowledge of the talks said. He turned Mr. Zuckerberg down.
So Mr. Zuckerberg personally met with Mr. Deitke. Then Meta returned with a revised offer of around $250 million over four years, with potentially up to $100 million of that to be paid in the first year, the people said. The compensation jump was so startling that Mr. Deitke asked his peers what to do. After many discussions, some of them urged him to take the deal — which he did.
Silicon Valley’s A.I. talent wars have become so frenzied — and so outlandish — that they increasingly resemble the stratospheric market for N.B.A. stars.
Young A.I. researchers are being recruited as if they were Steph Curry or LeBron James, with nine-figure compensation packages structured to be paid out over several years. To navigate the froth, many of the 20-somethings have turned to unofficial agents and entourages to strategize. And they are playing hardball with the companies to get top dollar, much as basketball players shop for the best deals from teams.
The difference is that unlike N.B.A. teams, deep-pocketed A.I. companies like Meta, OpenAI and Google have no salary caps. (Mr. Curry’s most recent four-year contract with the Golden State Warriors was $35 million less than Mr. Deitke’s deal with Meta.) That has made the battles for A.I. talent even wilder.
Over the past few weeks, recruiting A.I. free agents has become a spectacle on social media, much like the period before a trade deadline in sports. As Meta, Microsoft, Google and OpenAI have poached employees from one another, job announcements have been posted online with graphics resembling major sports trades, made by the online streaming outlet TBPN, which hosts an ESPN-like show about the tech and business world…