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Investors are pressuring tech companies to reduce costs in response to a sluggish advertising market and slowing growth. However, one area where these companies are still investing is artificial intelligence, as they seek to compete in the rapidly-evolving space of generative AI.
In the face of increasing financial prudence, Google's parent company, Alphabet, has told investors that improved resource management and cost-cutting measures will allow them to invest more heavily in AI. With the rise of new companies like OpenAI, which has created the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT, talent in the field of AI is in high demand, despite the perceived reduction in power of tech workers Engineers with strong AI skills who can stay up-to-date with the latest industry developments may find themselves in a strong position to negotiate salaries, as evidenced by compensation data from company job postings and databases such as Levels.fyi.
The typical AI engineer at Google makes approximately $254,701, with base compensation close to $200,000, according to recent data from Levels.fyi.
Engineers at level three, Google's lowest level for engineers, can expect to make anywhere from $130,000 up to $280,000 in total annual compensation. More senior engineers can expect at least $300,000, and up to $700,000 or more including cash and equity.
An engineer specializing in AI, for instance, told Insider they recently received an offer for a level-six position at $535,000, including a base compensation of $265,000 and $270,000 in stock and target bonuses.
Google froze most hiring before it announced the layoffs of 12,000 employees in January. Still, it said it would continue to hire in critical areas. The company has intensely focused on integrating new AI tools across its suite of products to keep up with Microsoft and OpenAI.
Google lists hundreds of roles on its careers page that require experience in AI or a related practice.
Microsoft has been front and center in the AI arms race this year, following the company's multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI early this year. The company secured deals with OpenAI that allow it to integrate the technology into its Bing search engine and sell it to customers through its Azure cloud business. It also plans to integrate OpenAI's tools into its Office 365 productivity suite.
Microsoft offers principal engineers upward of $400,000 a year, according to Levels.fyi data. For a less senior level-five engineer with eight years of experience, Microsoft has a stated range on job postings of $130,000 to $250,000 in total compensation, which is corroborated by self-reported offers on Levels.fyi. Cash compensation is often close to $200,000, with tens of thousands of dollars worth of equity on top.
Microsoft is hiring hundreds of engineers specializing in AI. Many roles specifically state that experience with generative AI is a preferred qualification.
Apple has largely been quiet when it comes to generative AI. Still, the company has infused many of its products with AI over the years, such as its Siri voice assistant and the Photos app. At WWDC 2023, the company announced an updated iOS autocorrect that takes advantage of the Transformers technology underlying chatbots like ChatGPT.
Apple engineers start at level three on the seniority scale. A level-three engineer within its AI organization can expect total compensation starting at around $200,000 to $250,000 a year, with base salaries coming in at around $160,000. Level-four and -five engineers with more years of experience can reach $330,000 to $500,000 a year, with base salaries in the low $200,000s and annual stock grants frequently exceeding $100,000, according to Levels.fyi reports.
One recent self-reported offer on Levels.fyi for a level-four machine-learning engineer was $505,000, consisting of $235,000 in cash and $270,000 in stock and bonuses.
One individual who works at Apple told Insider the company's AI organization "competes aggressively for talent and will pay accordingly."
Apple's careers website lists 110 open roles relating to AI.
Meta's software-engineering staff starts at level three for entry-level engineers, maxing out at level eight for the most senior engineers. Most recent offers for engineers in AI or machine learning have started at level four or above, with median overall compensation around $360,477, according to recent Levels.fyi data.
A recent offer for a level-four research scientist had a total annual compensation of $265,000, including a base salary of $170,000, $80,000 in restricted stock units, and an annual target bonus of $15,000.
Senior machine-learning engineers can expect total compensation from $500,000 at level six to as high as $1.5 million to $2 million for level seven and eight engineers with the most years of relevant experience, according to a source familiar with Meta's compensation packages. Only a small fraction of engineers reach this level. The largest pay packages are heavily weighted toward the stock. Cash-based compensation of around $300,000 to $400,000 is typical, with the rest made up in stock.
Meta's career site lists more than 60 open roles on its AI team, many related to generative AI specifically. One listing for a data scientist focused on AI with a minimum of four years of experience has a salary range of $134,000 to $194,000 a year before undisclosed equity and benefits.
Meta recently released the LLaMA model for large-language learning. It's also known for creating PyTorch, an open-source library for training machine-learning programs. The company relies heavily on AI throughout its products to keep people engaged on its social-media apps, and the release of LLaMA suggests it could soon compete with the likes of OpenAI and Google.
Amazon has spent years developing products that use machine learning, most notably its Alexa smart assistant. Still, it hasn't outlined a generative-AI strategy comparable to the likes of Microsoft or Google.
The e-commerce and cloud giant has instead offered access to others' large-language models through Amazon Web Services, its cloud unit. The company is building its own large-language model to rival the likes of OpenAI, but it's not ready for prime time, Bloomberg reported.
Amazon relies heavily on stock compensation. Typical offers on Levels.fyi indicate that engineers specializing in machine learning and AI max out around $300,000 in total compensation, including around $200,000 in cash and $120,000 in equity.
One current employee within Amazon's Alexa division told Insider that fresh graduates from master's programs usually start as level-four machine-learning engineers or data scientists and receive around $180,000 in total compensation. Those with Ph.D.s usually start at $250,000 to $300,000. The highest-level engineers can command between $350,000 to $500,000 in total compensation and can find themselves in price wars with the top competitors. These salaries are from 2022, before Amazon's mass layoffs began late in the year.
The chipmaker Nvidia has seen a meteoric rise on the back of the generative AI boom and hit a $1 trillion valuation in late May (the old guard, Intel, is worth $128 billion). That's because the company's graphic processing units, or GPUs, are ideal for completing the tasks necessary to analyze large amounts of data to train AI systems. Just about every company trying to become a major AI player wants to acquire as many of Nvidia's GPUs as it can.
Nvidia software engineers focused on AI and machine learning can expect a median income of $285,000, including base salary and equity, according to data from Nvidia's careers website and self-reported salaries compiled from Levels.fyi. The mix of cash and stock-based compensation varies, but pay appears weighted more heavily toward cash, with base salaries in the low $200,000 range.
Nvidia's stock is trading at a high multiple to its actual sales, which means it needs to maintain its current momentum to meet investors' expectations and maintain a high stock price.
Nvidia's careers website lists almost 150 open roles in machine learning.
OpenAI leans heavily on stock-based compensation, with new hires sometimes being offered double or triple their cash compensation in stock units, according to one employee who works at OpenAI, which was corroborated by Levels.fyi data. Various self-reported compensation packages from the open database reflect this, with many engineers being paid around $300,000 in cash, along with anywhere from $500,000 to $700,000 in equity grants.
One engineer at level six with seven years of experience reported on Levels.fyi a base salary of $370,000 in cash and nearly $1 million in equity. OpenAI has scooped away significant talent from Google and other tech companies, and generous compensation could be part of that. The company has raised billions of dollars in capital, largely from Microsoft.
OpenAI's website lists more than 40 open roles. The company says a research engineer can expect $200,000 to $370,000 in base compensation along with "generous equity and benefits." Most companies do not disclose the type of equity they offer.
While OpenAI remains a private company, the company has organized private sales to venture capitalists as it sees high demand for its equity from private markets.