The tech world has always been a bit mad, but the latest story doing the rounds has me wondering if we’ve completely lost the plot. Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg has been throwing around billion-dollar offers to poach talent from Mira Murati’s new AI startup, and not a single person has taken the bait. A billion dollars. With a B. And they’re all saying “thanks, but no thanks.”

Now, I’ve been in tech long enough to see some wild recruitment stories. Back in the dot-com days, companies were offering BMWs and elaborate signing bonuses to junior developers. But we’re talking about sums of money that could fund entire countries’ education budgets. The fact that these offers are being turned down en masse suggests something fascinating is happening in the AI space that goes well beyond normal market dynamics.

Reading about Ilya Sutskever’s AI startup reaching a potential $20 billion valuation made me spill my morning batch brew all over my keyboard. Not because I’m particularly clumsy, but because the sheer absurdity of these numbers is becoming harder to process.

The startup, focused on developing “safe superintelligence,” has quadrupled its valuation in mere months. Let that sink in for a moment. We’re talking about a company that isn’t building any immediate products, has no revenue streams, and essentially aims to create what some might call a benevolent artificial god. The tech optimist in me wants to believe in this ambitious vision, but my pragmatic side keeps throwing up red flags.