This secretive AI startup is paying as much as $500,000 to employees on H-1B visa

This secretive AI startup is paying as much as 0,000 to employees on H-1B visa

Jul 02, 2025 10:29 AM IST

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This secretive AI startup is offering as much as $500,000 as base salary to top talent.Top salaries for top talent Salaries in the AI arms race

This secretive AI startup is offering as much as $500,000 as base salary to top talent.

The world’s top AI labs have entered a high-stakes talent war, aggressively poaching star researchers to gain an edge in the race for AI dominance. Over the last couple of weeks, tech circles were abuzz with news of Mark Zuckerberg poaching at least eight top OpenAI researchers for Meta’s new superintelligence unit. Zuckerberg is not alone in wanting an edge in the AI race.

Mira Murati launched Thinking Machines Lab in February 2025.(AFP)

Business Insider has reported that Thinking Machines Lab, the secretive AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has been shelling out massive salaries for technical talent.

Top salaries for top talent

The AI startup is offering as much as $500,000 as base salaries to star employees despite not having launched any products yet. This staggering figure does not include sign-on bonuses and equity awards – indicating that the actual compensation may be much higher.

According to Business Insider, two members of Thinking Machines Lab’s technical staff are receiving $450,000 as salaries. Another is getting $500,000. A fourth staffer, listed as a “co-founder/machine learning specialist,” receives $450,000 per year.

Interestingly, salary details aren’t usually public – but these figures came to light through mandatory federal filings that companies must submit when hiring non-US residents on H-1B visas. This indicates that all the employees drawing such high salaries are working in the United States on an H-1B visa.

BI also reported that this data is from the first quarter of this year, before Murati raised $2 billion in seed funding. The deal valued the six-month-old startup at a staggering $10 billion.

Salaries in the AI arms race

The fierce competition among leading AI labs has driven astronomical compensation packages for top talent. Last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman alleged that Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is trying to poach AI talent with signing bonuses of $100 million.

This figure was denied by Lucas Beyer, who was one among at least eight OpenAI researchers who quit to join Meta.

(Also read: Top researcher who quit OpenAI to join Meta calls out Sam Altman for ‘fake news’)