India, Aug. 2 -- Meta just made one of the boldest moves yet in the fierce race for AI supremacy by offering a $250 million compensation package to a 24-year-old artificial intelligence researcher.

Matt Deitke, who recently left his PhD program in computer science at the University of Washington, was initially offered about $125 million over four years to join Meta, according to The New York Times.

However, when he turned it down, Mark Zuckerberg personally met with Deitke and doubled the offer to around $250 million.

"When computer scientists are paid like professional athletes, we have reached the climax of the 'Revenge of the Nerds!'" MIT economist David Autor told the New York Post.

After leaving academia, Deitke worked at Seattle...