Microsoft AI employees are reportedly paid more than colleagues

Microsoft has been one of the front runners alongside Google in the AI race. The company has invested billions of dollars in several AI startups including its close partner OpenAI. Earlier this year, the Redmond giant formed a new organization called Microsoft AI. As the name suggests, it is the brain behind everything AI at Microsoft. Now, it seems employees at Microsoft AI are paid more than the rest of the company, raising the pay disparity alarm.

A leaked salary sheet reveals Microsoft AI employees are paid more than the rest of the company

We all have some colleagues who are mum about their salary, while some are open about it for the sake of pay transparency. Discussing salaries kind of helps get an idea of how your salary compares to your colleagues in all good means, of course. It seems the same with employees at Microsoft.

According to Business Insider’s Ashley Stewart, hundreds of employees at Microsoft voluntarily share details of how much they make through an unofficial spreadsheet. That datasheet reportedly also offers insights about the promotions details of those employees. Per the Business Insider’s report, the leaked salary data includes the salary of Microsoft AI employees too. Interestingly, the salary data reveals a big pay scale gap when compared to other departments.

To get the figures right, Ashley calculated the Microsoft software engineer’s average total salary. The final figures also included base pay, cash bonus/stock awards as well as raise/bonus percentages for the current year. She did all the calculations across multiple levels.

There’s a difference of $120,000 on average

The final figures were astounding and tell us that Microsoft is quite serious about its AI projects. According to Ashley’s calculations, Microsoft AI employees (software engineers) get $377,611 on average. Interestingly, this figure is $120,000 higher than those paid at Microsoft’s other organizations. This includes employees at Azure, Cloud and AI, Experiences, and Devices.

Considering that these figures are coming from employees themselves, you may not want to take it as a complete picture. However, it is undeniable that there’s a pay gap between Microsoft AI employees and the rest of the company.

That said, Microsoft rewarding AI employees handsomely is understandable too. Since the pool of AI talent is small at this point, hiring some big brains at a tech company needs a big check, that’s how it works. But again, such a big pay gap may create dissonance among employees, though we never hope for anything as such.