AI’s talent arms race is starting to look like pro sports

AI is entering a new phase where access to top talent is becoming as important as, if not more important than, compute or data. The market for AI researchers is so overheated, it’s starting to look a lot like pro sports — complete with outsized contracts and unprecedented infrastructure needs.

On today’s episode of Equity, Rebecca Bellan chatted with Deedy Das, principal at Menlo Ventures. Das has seen this shift from multiple angles, first as an engineer and product leader at Google, Facebook, and AI startup Glean, and now as an investor helping technical founders figure out how to build enduring companies in this new AI landscape.

“The reason people are being paid this much is because there’s a disparity between the prize to be made in a short amount of time and the amount of people who have the talent to get you to that prize,” Das explained. “As long as that gap remains, you pay up and you get the talent. […] Over time, there will be less prize in AI. I imagine a lot of that value will be captured by a few people, and there will be a lot more talent to fill the supply.”

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why Meta is spending billions on both compute and researchers.
• How compensation packages and acquisitions are warping startup hiring and retention.
• What motivates top researchers to leave, even when they’ve already made millions.
• How VCs are thinking about key-person risk in the AI era.

Equity will be back Friday with our weekly news roundup, so stay tuned.

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.