Technology & Skills

OpenAI Engineers Earning $800,000 a Year Turn Rare Skillset Into Leverage

At the vanguard of artificial intelligence, the startup’s engineers are seen as virtually irreplaceable

Sam Altman.

Photographer: Joseph Nair/Bloomberg
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OpenAI reinstated Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman after hundreds of workers threatened to quit over the ChatGPT creator's ouster, highlighting just how much leverage the tech industry's most valued workers hold right now.

Artificial intelligence engineers earn anywhere from 8% to 12.5% more than their non-AI counterparts, according to an analysis by compensation data platform Levels.fyi published in May.