Why Pay Astronomical Prices for a Frontier AI Researcher?

The tools have evolved. The workflow has evolved. The role of the frontier AI researcher has... devolved. Starting at five bananas per day.

“It takes a lot of energy to train a human. It takes like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart.”

— Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Before

For decades, frontier AI research required deep specialization. You recruited PhDs who spent years mastering the mathematical foundations of the field.

The hiring pipeline was long. The compensation was astronomical. The interview process involved whiteboards, and occasionally, dignity.

And it worked brilliantly — for a time.

A New Paradigm

The modern AI development workflow has made certain traditional qualifications... optional.

Today's cutting-edge development increasingly involves pressing Tab.

We asked a simple question:

How should frontier AI labs
source talent in 2026?

We went back to first principles.

Meet the team

Our Monkeys

Every member of our talent roster has been individually assessed for vibe alignment, technical aptitude, and willingness to accept compensation in fruit.

🐵

Flo

Senior Vibe Engineer

Specializes in rapid prototyping. Mass-merged 847 PRs this quarter, none of which were reviewed. Brings an unparalleled sense of urgency to every deploy.

🦍

Mike

Principal Prompt Whisperer

Former banana logistics specialist turned full-stack vibe coder. Deploys to prod on Fridays with zero hesitation and zero rollback plan. Remarkably productive between 3–5 AM.

🐒

Goliath

Staff Vibe Architect

Fluent in cursor tab-complete. Prefers trunk-based development because branches are for sleeping. Strong opinions, loosely held. Mostly about bananas.

👨‍🔬

David Greybeard

Distinguished Vibe Fellow

PhD in Banana Peeling (honorary). Ships features at 3 AM because that’s when the bananas arrive. Publications: 0. Deployments: 415. Peer-reviewed by neither peer nor human.

🧑‍🎓

Mr. McGregor

Head of Research

Once stared at a whiteboard for six hours. We were so impressed we gave him a title and a budget. Has since transitioned to a prompt-first research methodology with promising early results.

Pedigree & Training

Our proprietary four-step pipeline has a 3% accept rate. Candidates who don't make the cut are shipped to Neuralink.

Step 01

Rigorous Selection

Every candidate is evaluated for high openness-to-experience, quick reaction times, and an innate comfort with ambiguity. We do not compromise on vibe quality.

Step 02

Rigorous Vibe Assessment

Each monkey undergoes a 72-hour vibe calibration where they are evaluated on cursor speed, tab-acceptance rate, and general willingness to ship.

Step 03

AI-Augmented Training

Monkeys are trained on a proprietary curriculum combining modern AI-assisted development tools with a banana-based incentive structure.

Step 04

Certification

Graduates receive a Certified Vibe Monkey (CVM) credential, recognized by our internal accreditation board, which we also founded.

0

PRs merged this quarter

0%

Copilot suggestion acceptance rate

0

million years of primate vibing

0

bananas per day, average cost

0

HR complaints filed

Peer-Reviewed* Research

The Vibe Coding Equivalence Theorem

Theorem 1 (Vibe Coding Equivalence).

Let H be a human engineer and M be a Vibe Monkey, both equipped with access to a frontier AI coding assistant. Let P(ship) denote the probability of shipping code to production within one business day. Then:

P(ship | M) ≥ P(ship | H)

Proof: Omitted for brevity. Available upon request. ◼

*Pending. Under review at a journal we decline to name at this time.

Simple, Transparent Pricing

No hidden fees. No equity negotiations. Just bananas.

Starter Monkey

Best for pre-revenue teams

5 bananas/day
  • 1 Vibe Monkey
  • Basic vibe coding
  • Deploys to staging only
Get Started
Most Popular

Pro Monkey

Best for Series A+ companies

12 bananas/day
  • 1 Senior Vibe Monkey
  • Full prod access
  • Includes "LGTM" PR reviews
  • Priority banana delivery
Go Pro

Enterprise Troop

Best for frontier AI labs

Custom
  • Dedicated troop of 5+ monkeys
  • 24/7 vibe coverage
  • On-call monkey rotation
  • Executive monkey briefings (quarterly)
  • SOC 2 Type Monkey compliance
Contact Us

What Our Clients Say

Don't just take our word for it. Hear from the companies that made the switch.

We replaced our entire platform team with three Vibe Monkeys. Velocity is up 400%. Nobody knows what the code does, but it ships.

VP of Engineering

Stealth AI Startup

Honestly, the monkeys participate in standups about as much as our previous engineers did.

CTO

Series C Startup

Our Vibe Monkey deployed a model to production that scored higher on MMLU than our last three hires. We have questions, but also, we have results.

Head of AI

Fortune 500

The onboarding process was incredible. Most new hires take weeks to ramp up. The monkey was mass-approving PRs within minutes.

Engineering Manager (Former)

Frontier AI Lab

Backed By

The firms shaping the future of primate-driven engineering.

Canopy VenturesApex PartnersFirst Principles FundLong Horizon CapitalUnnamed Sovereign Wealth Fund

“We've invested in a lot of AI companies. This is the first one where the entire engineering team can be motivated with a single bunch of Cavendish bananas. The unit economics are extraordinary.”

Managing Partner

Canopy Ventures

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about hiring a Vibe Monkey.

Request a Monkey

Tell us about your needs and our Primate Talent team will be in touch within one business day.

A member of our Primate Talent team will respond within 1-2 business days. Please allow extra time during banana harvest season.