“Meta is constantly doing reorganisations. Your manager and your goals can change every few months. For some researchers, it can be really frustrating and feel like a waste of time,” Shen said.

A Cambridge PhD graduate, Shen previously worked on generative AI at Meta before resigning in late 2023. To attract elite researchers from companies like Meta, Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, and xAI, Shen is offering compensation packages of up to $2 million, largely in equity, the Business Insider reported.

“Equity is where you can get a hundred or even a thousand times return in the future,” he noted.

Memories.ai recently brought on Chi-Hao Wu, Shen’s former manager at Meta, as Chief AI Officer. The startup plans to hire around 15 more team members over the next year. However, Shen emphasised that these individuals will be treated as founding members, not just employees.

Shen believes the shift toward startup culture is growing among AI researchers, particularly as larger tech firms become more bureaucratic and competitive.

Also Read | Small-town techie lands job at OpenAI project after 500 of rejections, earns Rs 20 lakh per month

“There are other reasons people might leave,” he said. “I think the biggest one is what Mark (Zuckerberg) has said: in an age that’s evolving so fast, the biggest risk is not taking any risks. So why not do that and potentially change the world as part of a trillion-dollar company?”

He also pointed to Meta’s newly formed Superintelligence Labs as a factor in the increasingly competitive AI talent race. According to Shen, some researchers have been offered compensation packages worth tens of millions, reflecting how valuable frontier AI talent has become.

“It shows that AI researchers who stand at the frontier of technology are really worth this amount of money,” he said.