AI Firms Battle For Top Research Talent

As AI talent tightens, Big Tech competes for researchers with massive pay and retention packages, including Meta's reported $100 million signing bonuses, Fortune reported on August 17, 2025. Alex Bates' HelloSky—backed by a $5.5 million seed round—offers a GenAI recruiting platform that maps candidate contributions and hidden talent from code and research. The tool aims to broaden sourcing beyond traditional Silicon Valley pipelines and reduce hiring inefficiencies.