In an effort to solve everything from face-scanning to autonomous vehicles, the world’s biggest tech companies are fighting over a small class of graduates with a very particular focus: AI research.
AI specialists, from fresh PhD grads to those with just a couple years of work experience, are getting paid $300-$500k in salary and equity, according to The New York Times. And that’s just for the newbies…
According to the NYT, all-stars in the AI field are negotiating contracts like NBA players, and have racked up “double-digit millions over a four- or five-year period.”
And looking down on it all are people with direct AI project management experience, like Anthony Levandowski, the former head of Google’s self-driving car division, who received nearly $120m in incentives before jumping ship to Uber.
A few things:
In other words, AI experts are now what developers were at the turn of the millennium.