Microsoft has fully jumped on the AI boom and believes in constantly working on the technology by launching new features and products. For the division to reach its full potential, the company believes it needs to invest heavily in the workforce working on this initiative. The company's salary structures have been leaked in one form or another over the years, giving hints as to what the compensation for top and lower-ranking employees will be. Recently, a report emerged revealing the salary ranges for the AI division, and it seems that employees in the division don't have much to complain about.
After investing heavily in OpenAI technology, Microsoft is going all-in on compensating its AI employees.
It hasn't been long since the leak of the internal investigation went viral. Employees are concerned about the change in management that resists salary increases despite the tough economic situation, which has led to a decline in motivation and impacted performance. We estimated the compensation of Microsoft employees through the once again leaked payment guidelines, which basically stated that the lowest performing employees would receive a base salary of $42,500 with no other monetary benefits. The highest-ranking employees received salaries ranging from $231,700 to $361,500, including annual and hiring bonuses.
Now, a new spreadsheet shared by Business Insider has emerged, providing information about salaries in Microsoft's AI division. The company seems adamant about keeping its employees happy, paying high salaries to its artificial intelligence division employees, especially compared to other divisions. As noted in the obtained sheet, the average salary of software engineers in the new AI division is up to $377,611, which is much higher than the average salary level in the Azure and cloud division, nearly $120,000 higher than other employees.
The leak came to light after Microsoft inked a multibillion-dollar deal with OpenAI to make Azure the company's exclusive cloud provider and expand into consumer and enterprise products with its technology, so it's not surprising given the company's heavy investments in the space. Microsoft's focus on AI is also reflected in its decision to have DeepMind and Inflection co-founder Mustafa Suleyman take over the division to lead Copilot, Edge, and even Bing.
The company has also reportedly moved some of its Teams app employees to the Co-pilot project to enhance and improve its AI experience. While the information shared in the screenshots should be taken with a pinch of salt, it does paint a picture of the pay disparity and conflict employees feel towards the AI department, which could ultimately affect their performance. Microsoft's increasing focus on AI and evolving the technology is reflected in the company's recent ongoing efforts and planned integrations across its product stack.
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