Google is allegedly paying some AI staff to do nothing for a year rather than join rivals

Retaining top AI talent is tough amid cutthroat competition between Google, OpenAI, and other heavyweights.

Google’s AI division, DeepMind, has resorted to using “aggressive” 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.

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.

In the U.S., the FTC banned most noncompetes last year, but that doesn’t apply to DeepMind’s London headquarters.

Last month, the VP of AI at Microsoft posted on X about how DeepMind staff are reaching out to him “in despair” over the challenge of escaping their noncompete clauses:

Google didn’t respond to a request for comment from TechCrunch but told BI it uses noncompetes “selectively.”