Meta's AI Chief Says He Turned Down a Job as a Google Director in 2002 Partly Because of Low Pay Yann LeCun won the Turing Prize for his research in 2018.

By Beatrice Nolan

Key Takeaways

  • Meta's AI chief says he turned down an early job offer for director of research at Google.
  • Yann LeCun said there were several reasons for the decision, including the compensation package.
  • He acknowledged, however, that "the stock option package would have ended up stratospheric."
Chesnot | Getty Images via Business Insider
Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun.

This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

Meta's chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, says he turned down a job offer for director of research at Google in 2002.

In a post on X, LeCun said there were several reasons behind the decision, including the size of the company and the compensation package.

LeCun said the salary was low, especially at a time when he needed money to support his teenage sons. Despite the low compensation, LeCun said "the stock option package would have ended up stratospheric."

He also said the company had 600 employees and no revenue at the time. This meant the role would have involved many things other than research, including corporate strategy and management, he said in the post.

LeCun, who won the Turing Prize for his research in 2018, said he wanted to refocus on research in several areas, including machine learning. The deep-learning pioneer also said his family didn't want to move to California at the time.

He added that if he'd taken the role at Google, he may have changed parts of the company culture.

In the post, LeCun said, "Had I joined, I think the research culture at Google would have been different. I might have made it a bit more open and a bit more ambitious a bit earlier."

Critics have previously accused Google of being slow and overly cautious with its AI development.

The success of the Microsoft-backed ChatGPT reportedly raised alarm bells at Google. The company has since released competing products for several of OpenAI's products, including its own AI-powered chatbot to rival ChatGPT.

Google representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

JPMorgan Shuts Down Internal Message Board Comments After Employees React to Return-to-Office Mandate

Employees were given the option to leave comments about the RTO mandate with their first and last names on display — and they did not hold back.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Business News

Zillow Predicts These 10 Places Will Have the Hottest Housing Markets in 2025

Zillow predicted that the hottest housing market of 2025 will be Buffalo, New York. Here's why.

Business News

'More Soul-Crushing Than Ever': Popular Hiring Platform Finds Around 20% of Its Postings Were 'Ghost Jobs'

Is that job listing too good to be true? There's a one-in-five chance that it might be.

Business News

'Masculine Energy Is Good': Mark Zuckerberg Tells Joe Rogan He Thinks Companies Need More Aggression

On the most recent episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said corporate culture has become "neutered."

Growing a Business

5 Risk-Taking Lessons From Founders Who Bet Big and Won

Discover the bold moves and strategic risks that catapulted these entrepreneurs to success. Learn how their fearless decisions can inspire your own path to growth.