India, July 2 -- The world's top AI labs have entered a high-stakes talent war, aggressively poaching star researchers to gain an edge in the race for AI dominance. Over the last couple of weeks, tech circles were abuzz with news of Mark Zuckerberg poaching at least eight top OpenAI researchers for Meta's new superintelligence unit. Zuckerberg is not alone in wanting an edge in the AI race.

Business Insider has reported that Thinking Machines Lab, the secretive AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has been shelling out massive salaries for technical talent.

The AI startup is offering as much as $500,000 as base salaries to star employees despite not having launched any products yet. This staggering figure does not includ...