OpenAI UK accounts: London staff averaged about £2.3 million each in pay and shares
Representative image: Ichigo121212 / Pixabay
OpenAI UK's 2025 accounts show about 110 staff shared £87m in salaries and £168m in shares, around £2.3m each, as the AI talent race drives pay up.
What Happened
OpenAI's British arm paid its London staff an average of about £2.3 million each in 2025 once share awards are counted, according to accounts filed at Companies House and reported on October 15, 2026. The filing for OpenAI UK Ltd shows roughly 110 employees shared about £87 million in salaries and about £168 million in share-based awards. That works out to an average cash salary of around £794,000 and roughly £1.5 million each in shares. The average was about £1.1 million the year before, so pay per head roughly doubled. The UK company's turnover more than trebled to £293 million, and it reported a profit of £20.3 million.
Key Facts
- OpenAI UK Ltd had about 110 staff in 2025, according to its accounts.
- Salaries totalled about £87 million and share-based payments about £168 million.
- Average pay including shares was about £2.3 million per person; average cash salary about £794,000.
- The comparable average a year earlier was about £1.1 million.
- The UK company's turnover more than trebled to £293 million, with a profit of £20.3 million.
- Reports say the average hides a wide gap between the highest and lowest earners, with the largest packages going to researchers working on frontier models.
Why It Matters
The figures put a number on the global contest for artificial intelligence talent. Frontier AI companies are competing for a small pool of researchers and engineers who can build and train the most advanced models, and they are paying mostly in equity to keep them. At OpenAI UK, share awards made up close to two-thirds of the total pay bill, which ties staff to the company's long-term value rather than to their monthly salary.
For start-ups, this is a hard benchmark. Young companies trying to hire experienced AI researchers in London, San Francisco or Bengaluru now compete against packages that few can match in cash. Many will rely on equity and mission to attract people, or focus on building products on top of existing models rather than training their own. Investors also read such filings closely, because labour is one of the largest costs in an AI business and rising pay feeds directly into how much capital a company must raise.
The numbers also matter for countries trying to build AI hubs. The OpenAI accounts show the economic weight a relatively small team can carry: about 110 people linked to £293 million in turnover. For Indian engineers and founders, the story is a signal of where demand is strongest. Specialist skills in model training, safety and infrastructure command global prices, and the gap between those roles and general software work is widening.
| Item | 2025 figure |
|---|---|
| Staff | about 110 |
| Salaries | about £87 million |
| Share-based payments | about £168 million |
| Average per head incl. shares | about £2.3 million |
| UK turnover | £293 million |
Impact
Short-term: The disclosure adds pressure on rivals and start-ups competing for AI researchers in London, and is likely to be used as a reference point in pay negotiations.
Long-term: If equity-heavy pay remains the norm, the cost of building frontier AI will stay very high, favouring the best-funded companies.
Who is affected: AI researchers and engineers, start-ups hiring AI talent, investors funding AI companies, and governments trying to attract AI research.
Key Takeaway
OpenAI UK's accounts show about 110 London staff averaging roughly £2.3 million each, mostly in shares, a clear sign of how expensive the race for AI talent has become.
Questions and Answers
How much do OpenAI UK staff earn?
According to OpenAI UK Ltd's 2025 accounts, about 110 staff shared around £87 million in salaries and £168 million in shares, an average of about £2.3 million each, including an average cash salary of about £794,000.
Is the £2.3 million average mostly cash?
No. Roughly £1.5 million of the average came as share-based awards, with the rest as salary.
How has OpenAI UK's pay changed?
The average per employee including shares was about £1.1 million a year earlier, so it roughly doubled in 2025.
How big is OpenAI's UK business?
Its UK turnover more than trebled in 2025 to £293 million, and it reported a profit of £20.3 million.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
Sourced and fact-checked by the Peepals Global Editorial Team
Reported, fact-checked and published by the Peepals Global Editorial Team.
