Tech giants are paying huge salaries for scarce AI talent

Nearly all big technology companies have an artificial intelligence project, and they are willing to pay experts millions of dollars to help get it done

Silicon Valley’s start-ups have always had a recruiting advantage over the industry’s giants: Take a chance on us and we’ll give you an ownership stake that could make you rich if the company is successful.

Now the tech industry’s race to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) may render that advantage moot — at least for the few prospective employees who know a lot about AI.

Tech’s biggest companies are placing huge bets on artificial intelligence, banking on things ranging from face-scanning smartphones and conversational coffee-table gadgets to computerised health care and autonomous vehicles. As they chase this future, they are doling out salaries