--- title: "OpenAI Is Shutting Down for a Week" description: "In a bid to retain its staffers amid a Meta poaching spree, OpenAI is giving them a mandatory week-long vacation." date: "2025-07-01" modified: "2025-07-01" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/openai-shutting-down-week" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "Meta" - "OpenAI" - "superintelligence" - "tech industry" --- # OpenAI Is Shutting Down for a Week ![In a bid to retain its staffers amid a Meta poaching spree, OpenAI is giving them a mandatory week-long vacation.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* In a bid to retain its staffers amid a [Meta poaching spree](), OpenAI is giving them a mandatory week-long vacation. According to insiders who [spoke to *Wired*](), a cloud of anxiety is lingering over OpenAI's C-suite as leaders scramble to keep staff happy and on their side — a tall order given that employees there often work up to 80 hours a week. Over the past week, Meta has hired [at least eight OpenAI researchers]() to work on its [new "superintelligence" team](). This "recruiting coup," as the [*Wall Street Journal* called it]() when breaking news about the hires, is meant to lead the company out of the hole created by founder [Mark Zuckerberg's shifting interests]() and investments — but it seems to have caused a secondary crisis at OpenAI in the process. In an internal memo posted to an OpenAI Slack channel, chief research officer Mark Chen seemed genuinely upset by the Meta poaching. "I feel a visceral feeling right now, as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something," Chen wrote in the document, which was leaked to *Wired*. "Please trust that we haven’t been sitting idly by." In his missive, the chief research officer referenced other "offers" that had been made to employees from Meta and said he and Altman are working "around the clock" to try to keep their staff from jumping to Zuckerberg's ship. "We’ve been more proactive than ever before, we’re recalibrating \[compensation\], and we’re scoping out creative ways to recognize and reward top talent," Chen wrote. Beyond the forthcoming week-long shutdown, it's unclear what OpenAI is giving employees to get them to stay. As Altman mentioned in a recent [podcast appearance]() with his brother Jack, Meta has offered some recruits [$100 million signing bonuses]() and year-one compensation — a number confirmed by OpenAI insiders but disputed by other *Wired* sources at Meta. Along with Chen's emoting, some seven other OpenAI research heads also wrote to employees to beg them to resist the Meta buyout. "If they pressure you, or make ridiculous exploding offers just tell them to back off, it’s not nice to pressure people in potentially the most important decision," one such leader wrote in a message viewed by *Wired*. "I’d like to be able to talk to you through it and I know all about their offers." In yet another imploring communiqué, another OpenAI research lead suggested that Meta may amp up its poaching efforts during employees' week-long break. "Meta knows we’re taking this week to recharge," the researcher wrote, "and will take advantage of it to try and pressure you to make decisions fast and in isolation." From the outside, this talent war between companies looking to build human-level AI is at best odd and at worst foolhardy. Peek under the surface, however, and you'll find some serious — and intriguing — existential anxiety on both sides. **More on the OpenAI wars:** [*There's Explosive Drama Between OpenAI and Microsoft*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()