Embodied AI talent scramble: rumors of 100,000 monthly pay for interns and a 1 million talent gap

The embodied AI industry is seeing high-salary talent poaching, with a startup reported to have offered an intern who has not yet graduated a monthly salary of 100,000 yuan, though the report notes this is an isolated offer rather than the general market rate. Maimai Gaopin data shows that from January to July 2026, newly posted embodied AI positions grew 6 to 7 times year on year; a Beijing Institute of Technology survey shows a talent gap of 1 million people, and the supply-demand ratio for embodied AI R&D roles is 1:10. The article attributes the talent scramble to more than 93.5 billion yuan in financing in the sector in the first half of 2026, while cautioning that high-salary hiring does not equal technological breakthroughs or orders landing; UBTECH and Dobot remained loss-making in the first half.