Exclusive Content: Microsoft Employees Reveal Pay Disparities in New AI Organization Recently, hundreds of Microsoft employees shared detailed information about their compensation and promotions. This data highlights the significant discrepancies in pay within Microsoft's new AI organization compared to other departments. The AI group, led by Mustafa Suleyman, a co-founder of DeepMind, was established earlier this year and focuses on consumer AI products like Microsoft's Copilot AI chatbot and Bing search engine. An analysis conducted by Business Insider (BI) of over 500 submissions from self-identified Microsoft employees in the US revealed some key findings from the internal spreadsheet. The data includes salary details, performance-based raises, promotions, and bonus percentages. The most notable takeaway is that Microsoft pays significantly higher salaries for AI talent, reflecting the intense competition in the race to develop the next major computing platform. With a scarcity of experts in deep learning and other AI fields, companies are offering attractive salaries and substantial stock awards. The cost of acquiring talent can reach up to $4 million per engineer in some cases. Here are the key highlights from the analysis of the exclusive Microsoft data: 1.

Average compensation for all roles within the Microsoft AI group was approximately 37% higher than the companywide average in the US. 2. Software engineers within Microsoft AI received about 48% higher compensation compared to software-engineering roles in other departments across the company. 3. Data scientists in Microsoft AI received about 11% higher compensation than the overall US average. For a visual breakdown of average compensations across various Microsoft units, refer to the chart below, which is based on the internal spreadsheet viewed by BI. Note that the Microsoft AI group had fewer role types for comparison than other organizations. OrganizationAverage Compensation (All Roles)Average Compensation (Software Engineers)Average Compensation (Data Scientists) Microsoft AI$339, 887$377, 611$256, 574 Cloud + AI$250, 124$255, 126$225, 836 Azure$248, 879$251, 464$237, 565 Experiences and Devices$243, 814$242, 723$196, 315 Security$225, 675$249, 100$217, 790 US Overall$248, 090$254, 707$226, 532 It is important to note that while Microsoft employees frequently share this compensation information anonymously through spreadsheets to promote pay transparency, the spreadsheets themselves are not official corporate documents. The BI analysis is based solely on voluntarily shared information and is not comprehensive. Microsoft declined to comment on the findings. If you are a Microsoft employee or have insights to contribute, please contact the reporter, Ashley Stewart, via the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-425-344-8242) or email (astewart@businessinsider. com).