Hm, isn't it a risk to pay too much?
If you've got enough money that you can't spend it in a lifetime, why continue to do extremely difficult work?
If you've got enough money that you can't spend it in a lifetime, why continue to do extremely difficult work?
People that were working on this stuff for a long time were not in it for money. It used to be a more artsy/philosophical field, and the money people moved on a long time ago for Enterprise edition Java or something.
On top of that, quitting now would feel like quitting a marathon during the final victory lap. If it turns out that there is still a significant gap between here and the end goal of AI research (which is different for different people), many people will retire. But lately, it has been feeling like we're on a final stretch.
It seems like 90% of OpenAI staff was going to join Sam Altman at Microsoft if the didn't return. Can you elaborate on that?
I can't speak for 20 years from now, but if I had retire-now money,I would probably take a job with a small games company. Strangely enough, that's what I do now anyway.
This is the direction I am headed in. Once my boring SaaS/banking app money pile gets big enough, I'd like to get (back) into building new gaming experiences.
But let’s be honest, too. You dream about that first million. By the time you hit it, you want two…
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/wealthy-nvid...
It's not quite the same as OpenAI, but as soon as those engineers realise they're not having fun at work anymore, there's a risk they'll just leave or coast. For now they're probably riding high at the place to be, doing the "best" AI work there is. It could stay like that for a long time, but it probably won't last forever.
On your deathbed you are likely not going to look back favorably at all the years you put in for bigcorp advancing the industry. Even if you do have a few white papers published, so what? Effectively nobody will remember them in 10 years anyway. Trying to find meaning by working for others doesn't pan out for most people. Bank the cash, get out when you can.
Second, many smart people like to work.
If you're buying a house, sure, but that's just the 1st year.
> ..many smart people like to work.
I do too, but life outside of work, being financially independent - that's tempting.
- ... the 300K base is 177K after tax.
- ... the 500K equity is ~250K after tax.
Financial independence assuming the stock doesn't massively appreciate by the time you see liquidity is 5-10 years away. I mean this is good do not misunderstand me. There's a big difference between making 800K gross where 62.5% is illiquid and 800K net you can spend any time.
[edit] This isn't much different than getting a staff+ role at a MAANG, which includes liquidity, but of course upside depends in your view of the relative stock performance in the coming years. Also, this is well above median, we're probably talking top 5-10% of talent.
Also, they're probably RSUs at this point which these secondary market companies don't like because unlike options, they can't be exercised at the holder's discretion, or shares, which the employee owns outright, they don't vest until all conditions are met (which often means until liquidity event). If the conditions aren't met within 7 years the RSUs evaporate even if the company continues to do well.
So yeah you may be able to get a no-recourse loan or a forward sale, on bad terms, for the stock/cash to exercise the options. For RSUs you're either going to get even worse terms or politely told to come back once they vest.
Let me know if that's not the case though.
Half of that is tax - so 400k. A (crappy?) house in the bay area is 2-3M (sam I thought was pretty adamant about RTO). Property tax is 1.25% (so about 40k a year?). Currently at 5% we are looking at 150k a year on mortgage interest alone.
Private schooling is around 2-4k per kid (after tax). But let us say you are public schooling.
Assume you already have a car and no desire for fancy cars.
Assume you hardly eat out and don't go on vacations.
Assuming you have no other expenses id say yeah it is pretty easy to spend 800k!
The exception is if you’re buying a house. That was a big kick in the teeth to the tune of $45k or so, after closing, due to house repairs and miscellaneous life stuff. But as far as starting a family goes, it’s worth it.
I doubt we’ll pay it off any time soon, and it always felt silly saying you "own a house" when the bank owns it. I once asked what happens if you miss a payment after paying off 98%, and the closing lady said that the bank will repossess it.
Those very same banks who quite often happen to be close buddies with the parties that happen to have the winning bid at the auction. It's a very crooked game, make sure you know the rules and who the other players are.
In what country? In the US it's almost impossible for the bank to take your primary residence regardless of whether you stop paying when you owe 2% or 98%.
Anyway ownership is not the same as 100% equity. You still get market_value-loan after a shortsale.
$800k/year, even if that were after tax, can be burned fast by sufficiently expensive hobbies like maintaining your own sufficiently large private plane or yacht. And if you want to go to orbit…
It’s not impossible to imagine burning $800k a year, but saying it’s "not hard" is so very Silicon Valley.
Get any combination of a house, nice cars for you and spouse, a nice adventure vehicle, pay college debt and kids education and you're already in the red if you want top shelf stuff.
Some people are modest, some people want space rockets.
For the same reason rich CEOs still go to work. They find pride in their work and it's a status symbol.
Imagine being part of the company that solved AGI.
Why doesn't Jeff or Elon just stop working? People that make that much money don't work for the money.
They are extreme outliers, not really comparable to the general population.