Anyone that works for startups knows that it’s not really “compensation” until it’s cash in your bank account. Until then it’s just a theoretical number on paper, which tends to end up being worth a lot less than originally advertised/hoped.
I’ve lost track of the number of times that someone’s startup got acquired for (insert what sounds like a big number) and everyone is like “wow the employees must all be rich” only to find out later that after preferred cap tables and other terms the employees got very little.
A lot could happen here, but history says “watch this space” on this stock-based comp. Some options on the secondary markets but that only works as long as OpenAI can convince more people to dump money on the burning pile of cash they have going at the moment.
The article talks about averages, but what I want know is the median. The usual situation, and I have zero reason to believe OpenAI is different, is that stock options are top heavy leaning heavily toward executives.
I want to know rank and file salaries as opposed to stock options
Business & back office employee salaries are standard but not impressive. Similarly, stock grants are better than most places but not wildly high unless you're in specific engineering & research functions. This is the same at Anthropic, too (I recently interviewed for director level business roles at both).
They do, but you sell forward contracts instead. This is perfectly legal, and the approach I've seen. There are a few companies, and even funds that will engage in this, in an effort to attain future upside.
They've changed the laws recently which makes it far easier - I believe you'd still need to be accredited but for most of HN, that's a low bar. For OpenAI specifically, they've allowed employees to participate in the funding rounds and they did a separate tender offer with Softbank to provide liquidity to early employees as well;
I just can't see any clear winners in the AI race. At least not as far as the models/products go.
Maybe a wild round of mergers & acquisitions, combined with regulatory capture and some monopoly will be what settles everything. Probably with a crash in the middle of it all.
Browsing OpenAI's careers page, I'm seeing at most $275k for most positions, so I'm assuming the median is much lower than an average being pulled up by a few rockstar positions.
You must be looking at non tech positions, most of their research/applied role go up to ~550k, and they do offer more than advertised for strong candidates. + hiring cash bonus + equity (which is a lot).
Yes, you might need approval, but if there's regular secondary sale does it matter?
> OpenAI has finalized a secondary share sale totaling $6.6 billion, allowing current and former employees to sell stock at a record $500 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with the transaction.
Aren't their secondary markets for this? My wife gets offers constantly for her options even though they're not public yet and the offers are higher then what she was awarded them at. Maybe it's scams? we never took any of them up on it.
I'm not surprised they have to pay higher, since no amount of money could convince me to work towards human irrelevance, or BigAdTech.
When I see this technology improve and free the lives of those whose salary is akin to slavery, then I might reconsider.
Context: I've been reading about the Mondragon Corporation, and it seems a much better model than this maximum extraction economy we are building. I'll submit a story for it, although I discovered it through a HN book recommendation (Kim Stanley Robinson).
OpenAI is exactly what happens when a company finds itself in such a far, far away blue ocean strategy that there are no more traditional "economic anchors" (to call it that) to reason with.
It usually ends in blood and tears, for both employees and investors.
BUT: the SOTA has been greatly advanced, which matters a great deal more than the destiny of a particular corporation or the social status of sam-i-am.
The best people have all seemed to fled Amazon the last 24 months. LinkedIn is flooded with long tenured top tech folks leaving. I doubt that gives those left a great deal of leverage and Amazon was never known for market-leading comp.
“Paying” is a relative term here.
Anyone that works for startups knows that it’s not really “compensation” until it’s cash in your bank account. Until then it’s just a theoretical number on paper, which tends to end up being worth a lot less than originally advertised/hoped.
I’ve lost track of the number of times that someone’s startup got acquired for (insert what sounds like a big number) and everyone is like “wow the employees must all be rich” only to find out later that after preferred cap tables and other terms the employees got very little.
A lot could happen here, but history says “watch this space” on this stock-based comp. Some options on the secondary markets but that only works as long as OpenAI can convince more people to dump money on the burning pile of cash they have going at the moment.
The private secondary markets are extremely liquid if you’re a household name
The user experience is nearly the same as cash if you have an ounce of interest in having cash
The funniest part is there is no amount of money that would get me back in the office again
The article talks about averages, but what I want know is the median. The usual situation, and I have zero reason to believe OpenAI is different, is that stock options are top heavy leaning heavily toward executives.
I want to know rank and file salaries as opposed to stock options
In general, I wish the media would stop using just the average when the distribution is not normal.
That's exactly why they use averages, though. Propaganda is insidious in that way.
Business & back office employee salaries are standard but not impressive. Similarly, stock grants are better than most places but not wildly high unless you're in specific engineering & research functions. This is the same at Anthropic, too (I recently interviewed for director level business roles at both).
Illlquid “stock options” in a private company is not what I consider compensation.
This is the general rule, but not for ones the size of OpenAI. There’s always a secondary market for prominent enough companies.
Dont all private companies require approval for secondary sales, which I assume are not ever approved?
They do, but you sell forward contracts instead. This is perfectly legal, and the approach I've seen. There are a few companies, and even funds that will engage in this, in an effort to attain future upside.
Typically. I’d be shocked if OpenAI let employees sell their options like this without requiring approval
They don't but you effectively do it under the table
OpenAI has regular tender offers for their employees, so while this advice is reasonable in general it is less true for this case.
Less true isn’t the same as not true. Simply put we don’t know because it’s not what they are disclosing
This article feels more like paid publicity than it does journalism
Dont worry...there is always an acquisition by Meta, on the horizon for any company with nowhere to go.
I am sure you can make OpenAI stock liquid pretty easily.
Only if you're allowed to which is not always the case.
They've changed the laws recently which makes it far easier - I believe you'd still need to be accredited but for most of HN, that's a low bar. For OpenAI specifically, they've allowed employees to participate in the funding rounds and they did a separate tender offer with Softbank to provide liquidity to early employees as well;
https://fortune.com/2024/12/17/hundreds-openai-employees-10-...
It’s allowed pretty easily.
They had had tender events (where you can sell your private stock super easily)
I just can't see any clear winners in the AI race. At least not as far as the models/products go.
Maybe a wild round of mergers & acquisitions, combined with regulatory capture and some monopoly will be what settles everything. Probably with a crash in the middle of it all.
Browsing OpenAI's careers page, I'm seeing at most $275k for most positions, so I'm assuming the median is much lower than an average being pulled up by a few rockstar positions.
You must be looking at non tech positions, most of their research/applied role go up to ~550k, and they do offer more than advertised for strong candidates. + hiring cash bonus + equity (which is a lot).
https://openai.com/careers/research-engineer-research-scient...
You also need to take into account equity, since it went up 250% in a year it can be a large amount of someone's compensation.
Until it’s really liquid it’s still fiction. The salary and other cash compensation is all that matters until you can actually sell the options
Want does “really” mean?
If there are enough opportunities to offload stock on the secondary market (which seems to be the case of them), then it’s not fiction.
If you can show me that they can sell without OpenAI approval on the secondary market, I would concede in a heartbeat.
If not, I am to assume this isn’t true, and that they are functionally non liquid possible assets at the discretion of OpenAI to sell
Yes, you might need approval, but if there's regular secondary sale does it matter?
> OpenAI has finalized a secondary share sale totaling $6.6 billion, allowing current and former employees to sell stock at a record $500 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with the transaction.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/02/openai-share-sale-500-billio...
Aren't their secondary markets for this? My wife gets offers constantly for her options even though they're not public yet and the offers are higher then what she was awarded them at. Maybe it's scams? we never took any of them up on it.
I'm not surprised they have to pay higher, since no amount of money could convince me to work towards human irrelevance, or BigAdTech.
When I see this technology improve and free the lives of those whose salary is akin to slavery, then I might reconsider.
Context: I've been reading about the Mondragon Corporation, and it seems a much better model than this maximum extraction economy we are building. I'll submit a story for it, although I discovered it through a HN book recommendation (Kim Stanley Robinson).
> I'm not surprised they have to pay higher, since no amount of money could convince me to work towards human irrelevance
The way Altman and others want AI to develop, this is what they’re working toward too
Do people who contribute to YouTube Shorts get paid a lot? It's a very nasty thing in the current form.
"OpenAI’s compensation as a percentage of revenue was set to reach 46% in 2025"
At least the revenue is large enough to cover the payroll. That's a good milestone.
Not really a fan of Altman, but I don't mind the competition he brings to the landscape.
Does that include stock? I bet it’s just cash.
The opposite. The article is just about stock-based compensation, and that 46% number is explicitly just that, not cash compensation.
Looking at the stick compensation of companies in 2000 doesn’t seem particularly relevant today?
OpenAI is exactly what happens when a company finds itself in such a far, far away blue ocean strategy that there are no more traditional "economic anchors" (to call it that) to reason with.
It usually ends in blood and tears, for both employees and investors.
BUT: the SOTA has been greatly advanced, which matters a great deal more than the destiny of a particular corporation or the social status of sam-i-am.
So, overall: good news.
Definitely. If VCs want to fund expensive salaries, so what?
no paywall: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-is-paying-employees-more-...
GPT-5.2 has radically changed my outlook on OpenAI. Head and shoulders above others.
The excellence is there.
I'm also a happy customer.
But, one thing has been consistent for the past 3 years: After every release from all the serious competitors, the hype can go either way.
As far as the hype cycles go, OpenAI is oscillating between "Best model ever" and "What a letdown, it's over" at least twice a year.
The competition is fierce, and a never-ending marathon of all the players getting ahead just a bit. No clear long-term winner.
Adjusted for inflation?
oh no, that might put upward pressure on Amazon employee salary demands!
The best people have all seemed to fled Amazon the last 24 months. LinkedIn is flooded with long tenured top tech folks leaving. I doubt that gives those left a great deal of leverage and Amazon was never known for market-leading comp.