Altman vs Zuckerberg: OpenAI CEO criticises Meta-style culture shifts

“We didn’t start talking about masculine corporate energy when that was popular,” Altman told employees in messages seen by Business Insider. He added that OpenAI did not “become super woke when that was popular.”

Last year, Mark Zuckerberg said he thinks Meta needs more “masculine energy” and that the company’s culture was “neutered” in the last few years.

“The masculine energy, I think, is good. Society has plenty of that, but I think corporate culture was trying to get away from it. It’s one thing to say we want to be welcoming and make a good environment for everyone. It’s another to basically say that masculinity is bad, ” Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan in a podcast recorded in January of 2025.

The Meta CEO added that women feel companies are “too masculine” and “biased” against them. 

Altman and Zuckerberg’s talent war continues

The beef between OpenAI and Meta is nothing new. In the last few months, both companies have been engaged in a talent war for AI researchers and engineers. Last year, Zuckerberg tried to poach OpenAI employees by offering them a lucrative compensation package, one of which, Altman says, included a $100 million signing bonus.

Altman also expressed his happiness over the fact that some OpenAI employees declined the offer, but Zuckerberg led Meta was eventually able to poach some AI researchers. In 2025, Meta invested heavily in AI development and hired some of the top researchers in the field, including Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, co-creator of GPT-40 voice mode and 04-mini Shuchao Bi, and more.