It seems like the United States and the world are all set to witness one of the biggest tech wars of all time. As per reports, OpenAI is shutting down its operations for a week to give its employees a break amid growing pressure from rival Meta. Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is accused of trying to recruit the AI company’s top researchers. The move comes after Meta recently managed to lure away four senior researchers from OpenAI to join its superintelligence lab. In the meantime, reports are going viral that ChatGPT will be shut down for a week.
As per Economic Times, an internal memo to employees, OpenAI’s chief research officer, Mark Chen, compared the situation to a break-in. “I feel a visceral feeling right now, as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something,” Chen wrote, according to Wired. He assured staff that he, CEO Sam Altman, and other leaders are working “around the clock” to respond to Meta’s offers and retain key talent.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been offering massive compensation packages, including up to $100 million in signing bonuses, to lure OpenAI staff. Chen’s message made it clear that while OpenAI is actively working to retain staff by reviewing compensation and rewards, the company also wants to remain fair. “While I’ll fight to keep every one of you, I won’t do so at the price of fairness to others,” he wrote.
Several other OpenAI leaders also encouraged employees not to give in to pressure from Meta. One leader stated, “If they pressure you, or make ridiculous exploding offers, just tell them to back off, it’s not nice to pressure people in potentially the most important decision."
As OpenAI staff deal with heavy workloads, often stretching to 80 hours a week, the upcoming break is seen as a way to help employees recharge. However, executives will continue working through the shutdown, and they worry Meta might use the pause to boost its recruitment efforts.
The answer is no. ChatGPT is not being shut down due to Meta. What’s happening is that OpenAI is taking a rare, internal one-week break for its employees, not shutting down the service for users.