Why did Mira Murati’s team reject Mark Zuckerberg’s $1B offer?

Mark Zuckerberg has become known for taking risks to attract the top tech talent, and with Meta's new Superintelligence Lab, he has provided researchers from Thinking Machines Lab - the business run by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati - with astronomical compensation packages. Offers for a single researcher were as high as $1 billion, while others ranged from $200 to $500 million over a four-year period.

However, none of the Thinking Machines Lab team members have embraced Meta's strategy in spite of these enormous funds. Despite having no products, the company, which was founded by Murati, is now valued at $12 billion, demonstrating the confidence in her ability to lead. In an industry where big compensation typically speaks louder than values, the team's commitment seemed to be driven more by trust in Murati's vision than by financial gain, which surprised many.