After they sign the agreements, many were allegedly put on extended leaves during which they are paid by Google DeepMind but no longer work for the time period of their non-compete agreement which could go up to 12 months.
Four former employees who chose to remain anonymous told Business Insider that some Google DeepMind staff in the UK are subject to such non-compete agreements. These agreements tie an employee to a company as they agree not to work for a competing company for a certain period of time after signing the deal.
The issues came to light after Nando de Freitas, Microsoft AI's vice president and a former DeepMind director, took to X to share stories of such employees reaching out to him.
"Every week one of you reaches out to me in despair to ask me how to escape your notice periods and non-competes. Don't sign these contracts. No American corporation should have that much power, especially in Europe. It's abuse of power, which does not justify any end," he said.
Companies are launching AI tech within weeks of each other and such aggressive non-compete agreements can help a company like Google gain a competitive edge over a rival.
Two of the former employees said that while six-month non-competes are common among DeepMind employees and those working on Google's Gemini AI models, more senior researchers have also been put on yearlong leave.
However, Google said their agreements were within market standards. "Our employment contracts are in line with market standards. Given the sensitive nature of our work, we use non-competes selectively to protect our legitimate interests, " a Google spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement.
But in a fast-paced field like AI, some employees feel their long non-competes have restricted their growth. "Who wants to sign you for starting in a year?" said one former DeepMind employee. "That's forever in AI."
“AI is interesting. It seems to be the first time in my career that you have this insane race, like a space race. People really feel like to be six months ahead, a year ahead, could make all the difference,” a former employee told Business Insider.
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