Salaries by Company.

OpenAI has the highest average salary premium at +37% above national median, with its top-paying role (VP of AI) reaching an estimated $400,200. Meta FAIR follows closely at +35%.

Pure AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic typically pay 30-45% above national median for core AI roles, while Big Tech companies (Amazon, Microsoft, Apple) offer 15-25% premiums. The gap is driven by intense competition for AI research and safety talent among smaller, well-funded labs.

OpenAI's estimated AI Engineer median salary is $245,000, reflecting a +40% premium over the national AI Engineer median of $175,000. This is base salary only and does not include equity, bonuses, or signing packages.

AI Safety Engineers and ML Engineers earn comparable base salaries at most companies. However, the supply of AI safety specialists is much smaller, which gives safety engineers stronger negotiating leverage. At companies like Anthropic where safety is a core focus, safety roles can command equal or higher premiums than general ML positions.

OpenAI has the highest average salary premium at +37% across 15 tracked AI roles. This premium reflects the intense competition for talent in the AI research and safety space, where a small number of companies compete for a limited pool of specialists.

Anthropic and OpenAI offer similar premium levels across AI roles. OpenAI tends to have slightly higher premiums for research-focused positions, while Anthropic is competitive on safety and alignment roles. Both companies pay 30-45% above national median for core AI engineering positions, making them among the highest-paying employers in the industry.