"Google was not spared by this year's AI talent wars. The Gemini creator lost employees from its AI and cloud business, even though the company also made significant hires from other Big Tech companies. Unlike Apple, which mostly lost AI talent to Meta, which splurged big on recruitment this year, most significant departures from Google ended up at Microsoft. Google DeepMind's rivalry with Microsoft's AI unit is one between two DeepMind cofounders who parted ways."
"Mustafa Suleyman, now steering Microsoft's consumer AI push, and Demis Hassabis, the current CEO of Google DeepMind, launched DeepMind alongside researcher Shane Legg in 2010. They built a research lab so influential that Google bought it for more than $500 million in 2014. But a decade later, Suleyman departed Google and founded Inflection AI. He and most of his team were subsequently absorbed by Microsoft in a $650 million "acqui-hire," which made him the AI lead of the company."
Google lost at least 11 AI and cloud executives in 2025, with many departures going to Microsoft and a few to other rivals. Several leavers came from Google DeepMind and Google Cloud, including senior engineers and leaders with long tenures. The rivalry between DeepMind and Microsoft's AI unit traces back to cofounders Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman. Google acquired DeepMind in 2014 for over $500 million. Suleyman later left, founded Inflection AI, and his team was acquired by Microsoft in a reported $650 million deal that positioned him as Microsofts AI lead.
Read at Business Insider
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