On the 31st of July, we did a story in which we told you about someone refusing a billion-dollar job offer. At the time, we also said that we didn’t know the name. Now, less than a week later, the secret is out. And the LinkedIn profile of this top-tier AI scientist has since gone viral. Who is he? Before I tell you that, here’s a quick recap of what happened.
Meta’s aggressive AI hiring
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has been on an aggressive hiring spree for its newly formed AI unit, called the Super intelligence Lab. This time, the targets were the 50-odd team members from Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab.
Who is Mira Murati?
Mira is the Albanian-American tech visionary who was the Chief Techincal Officer at OpenAI, the company that achieved a major generative AI breakthrough with ChatGPT.She is known for playing a pivotal role at the AI behemoth led by Sam Altman. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, given Murati’s credentials, Mark Zuckerberg first approached her to join the Super intelligence Lab, probably with her team. However, she reportedly refused that offer.
Meta’s billion-dollar job offer
So, reports say, Meta went in all guns blazing, with one offer of a billion-dollars and several offers ranging from 200 to 500 million dollars for Mira Murati's team members. However, reports say none of the offers were accepted. Meta even called these reports inaccurate and exaggerated. But the headline created a big buzz online. People across the world were curious to find out who had refused such lucrative opportunities, especially the billion-dollar job offer.
Andrew Tulloch: The AI genius
Now, the name is finally out. The person who did the unthinkable is an Australian computer scientist, Andrew Tulloch. This Cambridge graduate has some of the biggest corporate and tech companies on his CV. He has worked with US investment giant, Goldman Sachs. Tulloch also spent over a decade at Meta, before moving on to ChatGPT creator OpenAI for a short stint. Later, he quit OpenAI to co-found Thinking Machines Lab with Mira Murati.
$12 billion valuation
In fact, Thinking Machines Lab raised around $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation in a funding round this June. That’s a record high for a pre-seed funding round. This even before it has announced any products. That shows the value investors are placing on the brains behind the company. And it’s also evident in the offer Meta rolled out. But Tulloch has said no. The details of his refusal are scarce. However, it appears to be part of Silicon Valley’s age-old tradition of people turning down big money to create something groundbreaking. Will Tulloch deliver on that promise? We’ll only know when Thinking Machines Lab unveils what it’s building in secrecy.
The race for AI talent
The whole story also puts the spotlight once again on the fierce battle for top-tier AI talent in Silicon Valley. Companies like Meta, which are playing catch up in the AI race, want to turbo-charge their game by throwing unimaginable amounts of money at the best talent in the market. However, even with those eye-popping figures on offer, it’s difficult for tech behemoths to lure the likes of Andrew Tulloch.