OpenAI has recruited Mike Liberatore, who previously served as the finance chief at Elon Musk's AI startup XAI, to oversee business finance for AI infrastructure. Liberatore's appointment comes after a series of high-profile departures from XAI.

OpenAI has recruited Mike Liberatore, who previously served as the finance chief at Elon Musk's AI startup XAI, to oversee business finance for AI infrastructure. Liberatore's appointment comes after a series of high-profile departures from XAI, including its general counsel and a co-founder, reflecting the fierce competition for skilled professionals in the AI industry.

The hiring underscores the escalating rivalry between OpenAI and Musk, as well as the broader trend of tech companies offering lucrative compensation packages to attract and retain top talent. As major players like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta invest heavily in AI infrastructure and personnel, the competition for expertise continues to intensify, even as many firms remain unprofitable.

Musk, Altman rivalry escalates with new OpenAI hire

A new escalation in the feud between Elon Musk and OpenAI now spilling into the AI talent wars. For that, we'll turn to Mackenzie Sagalos in today's Tech Check. Morning, Mack. Hey, good morning, Carl. So, OpenAI just pulled off a quiet power move, poaching the former finance chief of Elon Musk's rival startup, XAI. Mike Liberatore, who left XAI after just a few months on the job, starts this morning as OpenAI's new business finance officer for AI infrastructure. He'll report to CFO Sarah Fryer and oversee the company's massive CapEx spend, including contracts like that $300 billion deal with Oracle. Now, his exit was one of several high-profile departures that have thinned out Elon Musk's leadership bench. This summer alone, XAI lost its general counsel, a senior attorney, and co-founder Igor Babushkin, who's an alum of both OpenAI and Google DeepMind. So, this new OpenAI hire really tells us two big things. It marks another salvo in that long-running rivalry between Musk and Sam Altman, but it also underscores the newer front in the AI boom, a full-blown talent war. In today's arms race, attracting, poaching and retaining the best minds is becoming as valuable as the NVIDIA chips that power the models that they build. Now, for startups and the big tech giants alike, the ability to hire top engineers and researchers is the differentiator. Now, some of these deep-pocketed players, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta, they are dangling NBA-style pay packages and bonuses in the range of tens of millions of dollars to secure scarce expertise. That competition keeps driving compensation hire, and it comes as these companies are already shelling out hundreds of billions of dollars for NVIDIA hardware, cloud capacity and massive data centers. And many of the most celebrated AI firms, OpenAI among them, aren't yet profitable. And Sam Altman, he said that he's happy to run in a law so long as they keep growing. Guys? You know, we talk a lot about OpenAI and Anthropic and Google. We haven't talked as much about XAI, but now you're putting on the radar with this big hiring of new talent. Where are they compared to some of the others? Where is Musk's company compared to others on technological capability and just how much business they're taking? Well, we saw that merger of X and XAI earlier this year as Elon Musk looks to bake Grok into the social media app itself. And so they're building an LLM, which puts them squarely as a rival against names like Meta and OpenAI. But what's key here, Sarah, is the fact that they've seen talent leave. And so that's a product of the fact that you've got a very founder-driven company in XAI, similar to Meta, which has, for its part, also seen departures in the last few months, which raises the question of how their reorg has been going since they brought in fresh talent. Mac, I wonder, I'm assuming a not insignificant portion of these comp packages are equity, right? It's not that the people who are getting hired are having to have, they're having to have some stake in the future success of the company. That's not just cash. Right. So it's a mix of what these comp packages pay, what these comp packages look like, which is also a question of why someone would walk away from the table so soon after signing. We've seen a few recent departures just after a few months of people joining Meta, for example. But people have been pretty close mouth about these blockbuster deals, in large part because they are so unprecedented. Mark Zuckerberg is really the one who set off this AI spending war. Indeed, yeah. It's been amazing to watch. We'll see, hopefully it ends well for everybody. The technology is moving so fast that we don't know what it's going to look like in a year or two. Yeah, but don't worry. They're getting cash and stock. So I think they're doing just fine. McKenzie, thank you.

A judge has dismissed two state terrorism-related charges against Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December. CBS News' Anna Schecter has more details.

New York

Luigi Mangione's state terrorism charges dismissed in CEO killing

Luigi Mangione, who faces state and federal murder charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is set to appear in a New York City court on Tuesday. The 27-year-old, who has pleaded not guilty, could learn which prosecutor he'll face first.

Luigi Mangione set to be in court

Israel said it has launched its ground offensive in Gaza City. It comes as a United Nations inquiry finds that Israel's nearly two-year war on Gaza is a genocide. Israeli leaders have denounced the report as "distorted and false."

Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

Israel launches main phase of ground offensive in Gaza City

U.S. President Donald Trump becomes the first U.S. president to receive a second state visit as Britain faces protests over immigration and growing support for the pro-Trump Reform Party. CBS News correspondent Ed O'Keefe reports from London.

London

Trump begins state visit to London amid rising political tensions

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday (Sept. 15) the U.S. military carried out a second strike against an alleged Venezuelan drug boat. CBS News' Charlie D'Agata has the latest.

Caracas

Trump announces second U.S. strike on alleged Venezuelan drug boat

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened investigations into the ‘radical left,’ following the shooting death of Charlie Kirk. Vice-President J.D. Vance on Kirk’s podcast encouraged people to turn in those who celebrated the conservative commentator’s killing.

Washington

Charlie Kirk’s killing prompts broad threats from Trump administration

The United States and China reached a framework agreement to switch short-video app TikTok to U.S.-controlled ownership, U.S. officials said.

Washington County

U.S., China reach framework deal on TikTok

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as close U.S. ally Qatar gathered other Arab nations' leaders for a summit to issue unified condemnation of last week's Israeli airstrike targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital.

What to know about Rubio's trip to Israel, Qatar summit

President Trump announced the U.S. military has carried out a second strike on alleged Venezuelan "narcoterrorists" in international waters. Three men were killed.

Trump announces second strike on alleged drug boat from Venezuela

Arab and Islamic leaders are gathering in Qatar for an emergency summit following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha. The meeting aims to show unity and increase pressure on Israel.

Doha

Arab, Islamic leaders meet in Qatar after Israeli attack on Hamas

HBO's medical drama, "The Pitt" beat out heavily-favored Apple TV's "Severance" for outstanding drama series at the Emmy Awards. Meanwhile, Apple TV's "The Studio" walked away with 13 awards and broke the Emmy record for the most wins by a comedy in a single season.

Los Angeles

"The Pitt," "The Studio," and "Adolescence" win big at Emmy Awards

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel on Sunday to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials amid the nation's recent strike in Doha, Qatar, and intensified attacks in Northern Gaza.

Israel hosts U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Over the weekend, tens of thousands of people marched through London in a rally billed as in support of free speech. Many of the chants and speeches at the rally, which was organized by a far-right activist, were protesting against immigration.

Thousands in London march in rally organized by far-right activist

U.S. and Chinese officials concluded a first day of talks in Madrid on their strained trade ties, a looming divestiture deadline for Chinese short-video app TikTok, amid Washington's demands that its allies place tariffs on imports from China over its purchases of Russian oil.

Madrid

Global Tariffs

U.S., China begin trade talks in Spain as TikTok deadline looms

Police are searching for a motive in Wednesday's killing of conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk. Authorities say interviews with family and friends of the 22-year-old suspect suggest he could have been radicalized in the dark corners of the internet.

Orem

Charlie Kirk shooting suspect 'not cooperating' with authorities

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said ahead of the trip that he will be seeking answers from Israeli officials about how they see the way forward in Gaza. Rubio's trip comes after Israel's attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar that upended efforts to broker an end to the conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Israel for talks

Five U.S. F-35 fighter jets landed in Puerto Rico amid escalating tensions with Venezuela. Separately, Caracas said 18 armed U.S. Navy personnel raided a tuna boat sailing in Venezuelan waters.

San Juan

U.S. sends jets to Puerto Rico amid escalating tensions with Venezuela

U.S. President Donald Trump said he believes the Russia-Ukraine war would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia and placed tariffs on China of 50 percent to 100 percent for its purchases of Russian petroleum.

Trump calls on NATO members to stop purchasing Russian oil

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel on Sunday, as Israel intensified its attacks against northern Gaza. The trip is taking place after President Donald Trump rebuked Israel over the unprecedented attack against Hamas leaders meeting in Doha.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Marco Rubio visits Israel to push for Gaza ceasefire talks

NATO announced plans to beef up the defense of Europe's eastern flank on Friday, two days after Poland shot down drones that had violated its airspace in the first known action of its kind by a member of the Western alliance during Russia's war in Ukraine.

Warsaw

Ukraine Invasion

NATO bolsters its eastern flank after Russian drones hit Poland

Protests broke out in Chicago on Saturday against President Trump's immigration crackdown. A group of Catholic clergy led what they called a "People's Mass" outside the Great Lakes Naval Base. The base will also be used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a staging area for deportations.

Chicago

Tensions over immigration escalate in Chicago

More than 100,000 people took to the streets in London on Saturday, in what's believed to be the largest anti-immigration protest in British history. Organizers called it a "Unite the Kingdom" rally.

Huge crowds march for right-wing "Unite the Kingdom" rally in London

President Trump signaled a new position on Russia's war with Ukraine. He said the U.S. will agree to additional sanctions on Moscow, but only when NATO allies stop buying Russian oil. Willie James Inman has more details.

Trump says NATO must stop buying Russian oil

Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspect in the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, is being held in Spanish Fork, Utah. Officials have yet to identify a precise motive for Wednesday's shooting. Carter Evans has new developments.

Suspect's family says he recently became more political

NATO has launched operation Eastern Sentry to bolster its presence along the eastern flank of Europe, after Russian drones were found in Poland on Wednesday. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump is calling on all treaty members to increase economic pressures on Russia.

Trump calls on NATO members to impose sanctions on Russia

More than 100,000 people marched through central London on Saturday in a 'Unite the Kingdom' demonstration against immigration organized by far-right activist Tommy Robinson. Police said a number of officers were assaulted.

Thousands in London march against immigration

A former chief justice has been sworn in as Nepal's interim prime minister. For many people, Sushila Karki's appointment promises change. Days of violence and anti-government protests left at least 51 people dead.

Kathmandu

Curfew lifted in Kathmandu, violence in Nepal eases

A civil war within the Sinaloa cartel in western Mexico has forced thousands of people to abandon their villages. Rival factions are battling for territory and control. Communities caught in the middle of the violence are demanding change.

Culiacán

Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel war displaces thousands

The man accused of killing conservative commentator and activist Charlie Kirk is being held without bail in a Utah jail. Meanwhile, vigils and memorials across the country honored Kirk as his widow made her first public remarks since his death.

Charlie Kirk shooting suspect held without bail

President Trump has backed down on his plans to send the National Guard to Chicago, for now. Instead, he told Fox News that federal troops will be deployed to a different city.

Breakdown