OpenAI, the developer and research unit behind ChatGPT, has announced a company-wide ‘wellness week’ for the coming week, amid reports of employee burnout and aggressive recruitment efforts targeting its top researchers.

According to a recent report by WIRED, the “shutdown of ChatGPT for a week” is intended as a “rest and recharge” break for employees after months of 80-hour workweeks. It is also seen as a strategic move to counter the talent drain to Meta, which has reportedly offered compensation packages of up to $100 million to lure OpenAI researchers.

OpenAI’s Chief Research Officer, Mark Chen, reportedly sent a strong message to staff last Saturday, stating that the company will directly compete with the social media giant to retain and attract top research talent. WIRED shared details of the memo, which was sent via Slack to all OpenAI employees, following reports that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had hired four senior researchers for its superintelligence lab.

The memo read, “I feel a visceral feeling right now, as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something... Please trust that we haven’t been sitting idly by.”

Chen noted that he, along with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other top leaders, has been “working around the clock to talk to those with offers.”

“We’ve been more proactive than ever before—we’re recalibrating compensation and scoping out creative ways to recognize and reward top talent,” he added.

The urgency of the situation was clear throughout the memo, where Chen described himself as someone with “high personal standards of fairness.”

“While I’ll fight to keep every one of you, I won’t do so at the price of fairness to others.”

The memo, framed around a “weeklong wellness break,” appears to be a form of damage control as the talent war between OpenAI and Meta intensifies. The social media giant is reportedly luring some of OpenAI’s top AI researchers. Recently, a tech employee posted on X.com that four leading researchers had been poached by Meta, adding, “I feel really disappointed that the leadership didn’t keep them.”

Another OpenAI technical staff member, Lucas Beyer, posted, “Yes, will be joining Meta”—though he noted he did not receive a $100 million offer.

According to WIRED, CEO Sam Altman said in a podcast with his brother Jack Altman, “Zuckerberg is quite aggressively approaching top researchers, offering up to $100 million in signing bonuses and first-year compensation.”

Chen echoed this sentiment in his memo, “Over the past month, Meta has been aggressively building out their new AI effort, and has repeatedly (and mostly unsuccessfully) tried to recruit some of our strongest talent with comp-focused packages.”

The memo also referenced seven other research leaders who urged team members to stay at OpenAI.

 “If they pressure you or make ridiculous exploding offers, just tell them to back off—it’s not nice to pressure people in potentially the most important decision,” one researcher said.

“I’d like to be able to talk you through it, and I know all about their offers.”

WIRED’s report also cited sources close to Meta’s recruitment efforts, stating that the company is increasing its push to hire top researchers, particularly from OpenAI and Google. Researchers at Anthropic, another top AI rival, were reportedly seen as “less of a culture fit” for Meta.

“They haven’t necessarily expanded the pay band,” one source said, “but for top talent, the sky is the limit.”