According to the Guardian, OpenAI’s UK company paid its 110 staff an average of about £2.3m each last year. Roughly two-thirds of that value was paid in company shares rather than salary.
The subsidiary and its figures
OpenAI is the US developer of ChatGPT. Like many multinational technology firms, it runs its British operations through a separate locally registered company, in this case OpenAI UK Ltd. The Guardian reports that the company is based in Westminster and is opening a new headquarters in the King’s Cross area of London.
Companies registered in the UK must file annual accounts. Those accounts usually disclose the total spent on staff, broken down into wages, social security costs, pension contributions and, where relevant, share-based payments. The figures behind the trending story come from such a filing. The Guardian reports that 110 employees shared £87m in salaries and £168m in shares. Together that comes to about £255m, which works out at £2,318,181 per person.
Dividing each element by headcount gives an average of a little under £0.8m in salary and a little over £1.5m in shares per employee. These are averages across the whole workforce. The accounts as reported do not show how pay was spread between individuals.
Origins of the AI pay premium
Pay at the leading AI companies has risen because of competition for a small pool of people. Building and running large language models takes a mix of skills: machine learning research, large-scale distributed computing, data engineering and safety evaluation. Few people have done all of this at the frontier, and the main AI developers, large technology platforms and well-funded start-ups all want to hire them.
The Guardian describes these packages as comparable to Premier League football salaries and links them to OpenAI’s attempt to lead the global AI race. The comparison reflects a wider pattern. Firms that see AI as a winner-takes-most contest are willing to pay heavily to recruit and keep the staff they believe will give them an edge.
London has long been a base for AI research. It has strong universities and a large technology sector, and several major developers already have research teams there. A US company that wants to hire in Europe without asking staff to move abroad has good reason to set up there. The source does not say how OpenAI’s London workforce divides between research, engineering, policy and commercial roles.
How the pay is structured
At most high-growth technology companies, cash salary is only part of the package. Equity, meaning a stake in the company’s future value, often makes up the larger share. It is typically granted in a form that vests over several years, so staff who leave early give up some of it. This is meant to keep people at the company.
In company accounts, share-based payments are normally recorded as an expense based on an estimate of the shares’ value when they were granted. That cost is usually spread over the vesting period. The £168m reported for shares is therefore an accounting measure. It is not necessarily cash in employees’ hands, and it may not match what the shares will eventually be worth or sell for.
For a company that is not listed on a stock exchange, the value of its shares is especially uncertain. The Guardian reports that OpenAI is aiming to float at a valuation of about $1tn. If that happens, the price set by public markets could be very different from the valuations behind earlier grants. The source does not say which type of equity instrument OpenAI’s UK staff receive or what vesting terms apply.
OpenAI’s corporate structure has also changed over time. That makes the link between a UK employee’s award and the parent company’s value harder to follow from the outside than it would be at a conventional listed company.
Common misunderstandings
The average is not the typical salary. When pay is heavily skewed, a small number of very large packages can lift the mean far above what most staff receive. The reported figures do not give a median or a range, so it is not known how many employees, if any, received close to £2.3m.
Share awards are not cash. Most of the reported total is the accounting value of equity. Its real value to an employee depends on vesting, on whether the shares can be sold, and on the company’s future valuation.
“Last year” means the accounting period. Company accounts cover a defined financial year, which may not match the calendar year. The source does not give the exact period covered.
The figures say nothing about the wider UK tech sector. One subsidiary of one of the world’s most valuable private technology companies is an outlier. Its pay levels do not describe typical earnings for software engineers or data scientists in Britain.
Headcount and location may not match exactly. The staff counted are employees of the UK company. The accounts may not show where each of them actually works day to day.
Where to look next
The most direct source is the filed accounts of the UK company, which can be searched on the public register of UK companies. The notes to the accounts usually give more detail on staff costs, average headcount and the accounting policy for share-based payments than news coverage does.
To understand how equity is valued in accounts, read the relevant international and UK accounting standards on share-based payment. Guidance from accountancy bodies explains these in plain terms. To see how unusual these figures are, look at the filings of other AI and technology subsidiaries in the UK, which use the same disclosure format. If OpenAI goes ahead with a stock market listing, its offering documents would be likely to contain much more detailed information on pay and equity than is available now.
Frequently asked questions
How much do OpenAI London employees earn on average?
The Guardian reports that the 110 employees of OpenAI UK Ltd received an average of £2,318,181 each last year. This was based on £87m in salaries and £168m in shares shared between them. It is a simple average of total staff costs, so it does not show what a typical employee earned. Individual packages may differ widely from it.
Why is most of OpenAI’s UK pay in shares?
Technology companies with high expected growth often pay a large part of compensation in equity rather than cash. Equity ties staff to the company’s long-term success and usually vests over several years, which encourages people to stay. In this case the Guardian reports £168m in shares against £87m in salaries, so equity made up about two-thirds of the total value.
Is the £168m in shares actual money paid to staff?
Not necessarily. In company accounts, share-based payments are usually recorded as an expense based on the estimated value of the shares when they were granted, spread over the vesting period. What employees can eventually realise depends on vesting conditions, on whether the shares can be sold and on the company’s future valuation. That could be higher or lower than the recorded figure.
Where does information about UK company pay come from?
Companies registered in the UK must file annual accounts with the public register of companies. These filings normally include total staff costs, average numbers of employees and notes on share-based payments. Journalists and researchers use them to report on firms such as OpenAI UK Ltd. Anyone can search the register and read the filed documents without charge.
Does OpenAI plan to list on the stock market?
The Guardian reports that OpenAI is aiming for a stock market listing at a valuation of about $1tn. No timetable or other details are given in that report. A listing would matter to staff paid in shares, because it would set a public market price for the company’s equity and could make it easier for employees to sell shares they hold.
Sources and further reading
- The Guardian: technology coverage reporting the staff cost figures from OpenAI UK Ltd’s accounts
- UK public register of companies: filed annual accounts and notes for UK-registered subsidiaries
- International and UK accounting standards bodies: guidance on how share-based payments are measured and recognised
- Professional accountancy bodies: plain-language explanations of how to read staff cost disclosures in company accounts
Surfaced from the rss:guardian_tech signal “AI company staff pay”. AI-assisted draft, editorially reviewed.
