Retaining top AI talent is tough amid cutthroat competition between Google, OpenAI, and other heavyweights.<\/p>\n
Google\u2019s AI division, DeepMind, has resorted to using \u201caggressive\u201d noncompete agreements for some AI staff in the U.K. that bar them from working for competitors for up to a year, Business Insider reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some are paid during this time, in what amounts to a lengthy stretch of PTO. But the practice can make researchers feel left out of the quick pace of AI progress, reported BI.<\/p>\n Last month, the VP of AI at Microsoft posted on X about how DeepMind staff are reaching out to him \u201cin despair\u201d over the challenge of escaping their noncompete clauses:<\/p>\n Dear @GoogDeepMind ers, First, congrats on the new impressive models.<\/p>\n Every week one of you reaches out to me in despair to ask me how to escape your notice periods and noncompetes. Also asking me for a job because your manager has explained this is the way to get promoted, but\u2026<\/p>\n \u2014 Nando de Freitas (@NandoDF) March 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Google didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment from TechCrunch but told BI it uses noncompetes \u201cselectively.\u201d<\/p>\n\n