OpenAI paid 110 UK staff average 2.3 million pounds each last year

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, paid its London-based employees an average of more than $2.97 million each in salary and stock last year.

The Guardian reported Wednesday (local time) that an analysis of annual accounts filed by OpenAI UK Ltd showed the company paid a combined 255 million pounds ($326 million) in salary and stock compensation to its 110 UK employees last year, working out to an average of 2.318 million pounds per person.

The Guardian said OpenAI is pouring Premier League footballer-level pay packages into its UK operations as it seeks an edge in the global AI race.

Most of the compensation came in the form of stock. Cash bonuses totaled about 87 million pounds, or roughly 790,000 pounds per employee on average, while stock awards accounted for the remaining 168 million pounds — about 1.53 million pounds per person. Including 2.8 million pounds in pension contributions and other benefits, total staff costs reached 258 million pounds, according to filings with Companies House.

Average compensation per employee rose from about 1.1 million pounds the previous year to roughly 2.32 million pounds last year. Over the same period, the average headcount at the UK unit doubled from 55 to 110, and total staff costs grew more than fourfold from about 60.8 million pounds.

According to the Guardian, OpenAI UK employees earned about 58 times the annual median salary of 39,000 pounds for full-time workers in Britain, as measured by the Office for National Statistics. Even compared with the median pay of 58,000 pounds in the relatively well-compensated finance and insurance sector, OpenAI staff earned roughly 40 times as much.

The Guardian calculated that employees receiving the full package effectively earned around 1,000 pounds an hour in combined salary and stock.

However, the Guardian noted that the largest payouts went to AI researchers working on OpenAI's most advanced models. Of the 110 UK employees, 34 work in research and development. Reports also emerged last year that Meta had offered some OpenAI researchers hundreds of millions of dollars spread over multiple years in an attempt to poach them.

Sales at the UK unit also surged. Revenue reached 293 million pounds ($374 million) last year, more than tripling from the prior year. OpenAI plans to open a new headquarters in King's Cross, London, and is pursuing a stock market listing at a valuation of around $1 trillion.