OpenAI to make London its largest research hub outside US
Briefly

OpenAI to make London its largest research hub outside US
"OpenAI said London offered a "unique concentration of world-class talent across machine learning and the sciences" alongside a strong culture of interdisciplinary collaboration. The expansion is widely seen as a direct challenge to DeepMind, which employs about 2,000 staff in the UK and has long dominated Britain's AI research ecosystem."
"Mark Chen, OpenAI's chief research officer, acknowledged that the company had already recruited staff from DeepMind and expected to continue doing so. He said OpenAI's appeal lay partly in its culture. "We are famously a bottom-up lab," Chen said. "We let researchers pursue their lines of research and turn those into company-level bets.""
"The contest for AI talent has driven compensation to extraordinary levels. Senior engineers at major AI labs can command packages worth well over £1m, often made up of salary, bonuses and equity. In the United States, reports have emerged of multi-million-dollar offers as firms scramble to secure leading researchers."
OpenAI plans to significantly expand its London research operation, currently employing around 30 researchers, to become its largest hub outside the United States. This strategic expansion directly challenges Google DeepMind, which employs approximately 2,000 staff in the UK and has historically dominated Britain's AI research ecosystem. OpenAI's chief research officer Mark Chen highlighted the company's appeal through its bottom-up laboratory culture, where researchers pursue independent research lines that can become company-level initiatives, contrasting this with Google's more top-down approach. The expansion occurs amid fierce global competition for elite AI talent, with senior engineers commanding compensation packages exceeding £1 million, comprising salary, bonuses, and equity. OpenAI's private status enables it to offer equity stakes with significant potential value upon future public listing, alongside facilitating secondary share sales for employees.
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