Google Doesn’t Want Its AI Talent To Join Rival Companies, Is Paying Them To Do Nothing For A Year!
Amid Chinese AI DeepSeek’s popularity in the last couple of months has put American AI companies on a war footing. From OpenAI to Microsoft, Meta, and Google, the Silicon Valley giants do not want their talent pool to bleed into the rival camp. The companies are intensely pursuing the hottest talent with aggressive non-compete clauses, which will even put a lala company to shame. For the unversed, a non-compete agreement means the candidate can not work for a competing firm for the period of the contract. While the non-compete agreements are banned in the US by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the rule doesn’t apply to the UK.
The length of the non-compete agreement at Google DeepMind is relative to the seniority of the AI techie and the significance of their work. Per a Business Insider report, DeepMind in the UK has extended paid time off (PTO) that might create a sense of job dissatisfaction. Staff continues to draw fat checks despite having nothing to work on. The BI report also states that those contributing to Google’s Gemini AI models have a non-compete agreement of six months. The period extends for a year for senior AI researchers.
Meanwhile, the employees of Chinese AI company DeepSeek are barred from leaving the country to prevent information leaks. The government has confiscated their passports, as the proprietary AI gets ‘National Treasure’ status in China.
Getting Paid to Do Nothing?!@Google ’s @GoogleDeepMind is reportedly paying top AI researchers to not work just so they don’t join rivals like @OpenAI or @Microsoft . Thanks to year-long noncompete clauses in the UK, some staff are stuck in a strange purgatory: on payroll,… pic.twitter.com/712p4vOQOM— AIM (@Analyticsindiam) April 8, 2025
Google DeepMind imposes tough non-competes on UK staff as AI talent wars intensify. #AI https://t.co/jZKIiQQyxK— Express Technology (@ExpressTechie) April 8, 2025
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Cover: Patrick Gawande / Mashable India
