Michael Dell says the cost of hiring Meta AI isn't just about the eye-opening wage package. It appears in a queue of disgruntled employees lined up outside Mark Zuckerberg's office, demanding a fair shaking.
“It's certainly going to be a cultural challenge,” Dell said in an interview with hosts Bill Gurley and Brad Gerstner on Thursday in a BG2 podcast.
Dell resents the misfortune that Zuckerberg could potentially distract the generous salary of his new colleagues, and said that Zuckerberg could face from existing employees.
“People have a sense of fairness in general, right? They want to be treated fairly compared to others and the opportunities they have there across the market. If they feel that they're not being treated fairly, that's going to be a problem.”
Meta is actively building AI teams by poaching talent from rivals such as Openai and Google. Last month, the social media giant said it had invested $15 billion in data-signed company Scaleai.
As part of the agreement, Scaleai founder and CEO Alexandr Wang will join Meta as AI chief executive. Additionally, Wang will be co-leading with former Github CEO Nat Friedman and Meta Superintelligence Labs.
Dell isn't the only one looking at Meta's AI employment issues.
Openai Chief Sam Altman said in an interview with the podcast that aired last month that Meta felt “crazy” was promising employees a $100 million signature bonus.
“I don't think it's a mission and it's not going to set a great culture, like the massive amount of pre-guaranteed Comp's strategy and the reason why they're telling someone to participate and actually focusing on it rather than the work,” Altman said.
Altman's views were reflected by Helen Toner, a former Openai board member. Toner, who left Openai's board of directors in November 2023, said in an interview with Bloomberg last week that it was “difficult” for Meta to be successful in new AI employment.
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“There's a lot of organizational politics,” Toner said, adding that Meta must consider clashing internal egos.
“The problem is that if this is his big personal project, Zuckerberg can be marked. It's enough to change the dynamics of the organization,” she added.
But not everyone knows too much about the meta odds for success. Reid Hoffman, who co-founded LinkedIn and previously joined Openai's board of directors, said it makes economic sense for companies like Meta to spend a lot of their AI talent.
“If I invented something that is essentially curing cancer and trying to change the industry with my own startup mana, and if I think this individual is the person who does it, it's starting to become more economically rational,” Hoffman told CNBC on Wednesday.
Dell made a similar point in an interview with Gurley and Gerstner, noting that Meta could afford to make such a bet on AI.
“If you reduce this to super intelligence or something along those lines, the awards are incredible, and they have an incredible business that will go a long way with these advancements,” Dell said.
“There aren't many companies that can do this,” he added.
Representatives from Dell and Meta did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
