Foody: AI researcher compensation will normalize as training skills spread
Brendan Foody · Mercor CEO: Why Application Layer Companies Have No Moat & The Cost of Hiring AI Researchers · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Jun 1, 2026 · at 1:04:19
Brandon Foody is the CEO of Mercor ($10B ARR platform for AI talent). He discusses whether skyrocketing salaries for AI researchers will persist.
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“So I think that it'll probably continue to escalate for the people that, for a smaller group of people. But I also suspect that as more people gain knowledge of how these labs operate and what the capabilities of how to train a frontier model That means that there's going to be more supply in the market for people that have that skill set and thus a little bit more reasonable pricing. And so I expect there to be some craziness that continues, but hopefully sort of the 99th percentile, at least within the market will balance itself out.”
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