OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg are both attending the high-profile Sun Valley conference this week, and their meeting comes at a tense time.
Meta has recently hired away top engineers from OpenAI, and Altman says he hasn't spoken to Zuckerberg since.
"I'm looking forward to it," Altman told reporters on Tuesday in Idaho, where the annual Allen & Co. gathering is held.
According to Bloomberg, the tech industry has been watching closely as the battle for top AI talent intensifies, with reports that Meta has offered as much as $100 million to lure staff away from OpenAI.
Altman brushed off concerns about losing talent, saying, "We have a great mission, really talented people, and we're building a great research lab and a great company, too." He added that OpenAI's team is strong and passionate about their work.
Sam Altman was asked how he felt about Zuck and Meta poaching OpenAI’s top talent.
— Yuchen Jin (@Yuchenj_UW) July 8, 2025
“Fine... good...” he said.
Behind Jony Ive–designed glasses, I couldn’t see his eyes. But I could feel the pain.
It's not hard for Zuck to poach OpenAI talent, not just because he has the money,… pic.twitter.com/PRTigmL0WU
Read more: Sam Altman Claims Meta Tried to Poach OpenAI Staff, Offering as Much as $100M Signing Bonuses
Meta Hires ScaleAI CEO as Chief AI Officer in $15B Deal
Meta recently invested $15 billion in ScaleAI and appointed its founder, Alexandr Wang, as Meta's Chief AI Officer.
Wang will lead Meta's new Superintelligence Labs alongside Nat Friedman, with several former employees from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic joining the effort.
Altman has publicly criticized Meta's offers, calling them "crazy," but said on Tuesday that most of OpenAI's key people have stayed, BusinessInsider said.
The Sun Valley event also brought up another topic: Altman's shifting political views. He shared that he no longer feels connected to mainstream Democrats and is pleased with how the Trump administration is handling AI.
In fact, he recently teamed up with Trump and companies like Oracle and SoftBank to launch "Stargate," a project aimed at boosting AI infrastructure in the US with an investment of up to $500 billion.
"They really care about AI infrastructure and seeing the US succeed here," Altman said.
When asked about Elon Musk's new "America Party," Altman shrugged off the idea and commented, "Elon busts up with everybody." Musk, who once co-founded OpenAI with Altman, is now one of its most vocal critics and has filed a lawsuit against the company.
Join the Conversation