Microsoft Poaches Top AI Talent from Google DeepMind, Intensifying Tech Giants' Hiring War

Microsoft poaches more Google DeepMind AI talent as it beefs up Copilot

Microsoft has hired around two dozen employees from Alphabet's Google DeepMind artificial intelligence research lab in recent months, a person familiar with the recruiting told CNBC. The person asked not to be named in order to discuss internal matters. On Tuesday, Amar Subramanya, who worked at Google for 16 years, most recently as a vice president of engineering developing the Gemini assistant, said on LinkedIn that he has joined Microsoft AI as a corporate vice president. The Microsoft group works on the consumer-oriented Copilot assistant, as well as the Bing search engine. In June, Adam Sadovsky, with nearly 18 years of experience at Google, most recently as a distinguished software engineer and senior director at DeepMind, decamped to Microsoft. He's now a corporate vice president at Microsoft AI. Earlier this month, Sonal Gupta, a Google DeepMind engineering lead, said on her LinkedIn profile that she's now a member of technical staff on Suleyman's Microsoft AI team. Jonas Rothfuss took a technical staff role at Microsoft AI in May after spending a year as a research scientist at Google DeepMind.

More Google DeepMind workers reportedly jump ship to Microsoft

Microsoft reportedly has poached around two dozen staff from Google DeepMind, Alphabet's artificial intelligence research unit, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC. Corroborating the report, Amar Subramanya, a 16-year Google veteran and former vice president of engineering working on the Gemini AI assistant, announced via LinkedIn on Tuesday that he had joined Microsoft AI as a corporate VP. His new team is focused on the AI-powered assistant Copilot that responds to natural language prompts, as well as the Bing search engine. Subramanya follows several senior figures from Google who have already jumped ship. In June, Adam Sadovsky -- who spent nearly 18 years at Google and was most recently a senior director and distinguished engineer at DeepMind -- also moved to Microsoft AI as a corporate VP. Jonas Rothfuss, a former research scientist at DeepMind, and Sonal Gupta, a former engineering lead, both serve as "technical staff members" at Microsoft AI as of May and June respectively. The latest hires come as competition for top AI talent heats up. Meta has been on a multibillion-dollar hiring spree as it builds its research lab dedicated to pursuing "superintelligence," a hypothetical AI system that exceeds the powers of the human brain. The company has invested $14.3 billion into data annotation start-up Scale AI, The Information reported last month. As part of the deal, its 28-year-old founder and CEO Alexander Wang joined Meta, alongside several of its senior staffers. Meta also has succeeded in recruiting GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to join the lab. Sources also told The Information that Meta has been offering seven- to nine-figure compensation packages to top employees working for its rivals. Speaking on his brother's podcast last month, Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, revealed that some of his employees had been offered $100 million bonuses to jump ship. "It is crazy. I'm really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them up," he added.

Microsoft Hires Another Google Head in AI Talent Hiring War | AIM

With at least 20 hires from DeepMind in just six months, Microsoft is engaged in a fierce competition for top AI talent, intensifying the hiring war among tech giants. Amar Subramanya, who previously was the vice president of engineering for Google's Gemini chatbot, has made the switch to Microsoft, as announced in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday. "The culture here is refreshingly low ego yet bursting with ambition," he wrote, confirming his appointment as corporate vice-president of AI. Joining Subramanya are several other former DeepMind employees, such as engineering lead Sonal Gupta, software engineer Adam Sadovsky, and product manager Tim Frank, as reported by the Financial Times, citing sources familiar with Microsoft's hiring efforts. Over the past six months, the Seattle-based company has successfully recruited at least 20 people from Google DeepMind's research division, according to the report. The recruitment spree has underscored a competitive talent acquisition battle among Silicon Valley's tech giants as they strive for an advantage in the emerging technology market. This aggressive recruiting push from Microsoft coincides with a general trend spurred by tech companies to lure top AI researchers and engineers from their rivals. This has led to a sharp rise in salaries. OpenAI's chief, Sam Altman, publicly criticised Meta's Mark Zuckerberg for promoting "mercenary" practices by offering his developers enticing sign-on bonuses of up to $100 million. The competition for talent between Microsoft and Google is particularly intense, especially since DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman now leads Microsoft's consumer AI strategy, putting him in direct competition with his former partner, Google DeepMind CEO and co-founder Demis Hassabis. Subramanya and his DeepMind colleague Mat Velloso departed from Google last month, resulting in a reorganisation of the company's AI division as it strives to stay competitive with rising startups like OpenAI and Anthropic, which are gaining traction.

Meta, Microsoft hire top AI talent from DeepMind - The Economic Times

Meta has reportedly hired three more AI researchers from Google DeepMind, according to The Information. Microsoft, too, has added several former DeepMind staff in recent months. The growing competition among tech giants highlights the race to secure top AI talent and strengthen their artificial intelligence capabilities.Meta has again stepped up efforts to hire top AI experts, reportedly bringing in three more researchers from Google DeepMind. According to The Information, Tianhe Yu, Cosmo Du, and Weiyue Wang are the latest additions to Meta's growing AI team. The trio previously worked on a variant of Google's Gemini model, which demonstrated gold-medal-level problem-solving capabilities at this year's International Math Olympiad. These new hires bring the total number of former Google employees now working at Meta to at least six, highlighting the company's aggressive recruitment strategy in the AI space. Microsoft taps DeepMind talent Meanwhile, Microsoft has also made significant talent acquisitions from Google DeepMind. According to CNBC, around two dozen former DeepMind employees have joined Microsoft in recent months, expanding its AI division, which is led by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman, who now reports directly to CEO Satya Nadella. The latest hires include Amar Subramanya, a Google veteran of 16 years and former vice president (VP) of engineering, who worked on the Gemini assistant. On Tuesday, he announced on LinkedIn that he has joined Microsoft AI as a corporate VP. Others who recently joined Microsoft's AI group include: Competition for elite AI talent The aggressive hiring among tech giants underscores the intense competition to secure top AI experts. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently claimed that Meta had offered signing bonuses of up to $100 million to lure away talent from his company. However, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that the reported figures are "inaccurate". Meta's hiring spree has also included high-profile names such as Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, alongside numerous OpenAI researchers. On the other hand, Google hired the CEO and team of AI coding startup Windsurf in a deal reportedly worth $2.4 billion.

Microsoft Raids Google DeepMind To Supercharge AI Copilot, Even As Redmond Cuts 9,000 Jobs Elsewhere: Report - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Microsoft Corporation MSFT has reportedly been aggressively expanding its artificial intelligence team by poaching top engineers from Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google DeepMind. What Happened: Over the past few months, Microsoft has hired roughly two dozen employees from Alphabet's DeepMind, according to a CNBC report citing a person familiar with the matter. Among the high-profile hires is Amar Subramanya, a 16-year Google veteran who helped develop the Gemini assistant. He announced this week on LinkedIn that he's joined Microsoft AI as a corporate vice president. In June, Adam Sadovsky, a distinguished software engineer with nearly 18 years at Google, made a similar jump to become a CVP at Microsoft. Sonal Gupta, formerly an engineering lead at DeepMind, also joined Microsoft AI this month. In May, Jonas Rothfuss, a former research scientist at DeepMind, made the move as well. See Also: Dan Ives Calls Musk-Trump Feud A 'Twilight Zone Moment' But Bullish On Tesla And Autonomous Future: 'Not Good For Either Side' The hires are joining the Microsoft AI group, led by Mustafa Suleyman, a co-founder of DeepMind who previously ran the AI startup Inflection. Why It's Important: As Microsoft ramps up its Copilot products and Bing AI capabilities, securing elite talent has become a critical front in the battle for AI dominance, the report said. The company's aggressive hiring spree also comes despite its announcement of 9,000 layoffs globally earlier this month. Trending Investment OpportunitiesAdvertisementArrivedBuy shares of homes and vacation rentals for as little as $100. Get StartedWiserAdvisorGet matched with a trusted, local financial advisor for free.Get StartedPoint.comTap into your home's equity to consolidate debt or fund a renovation.Get StartedRobinhoodMove your 401k to Robinhood and get a 3% match on deposits.Get Started The DeepMind defection spree also follows reports that Meta Platforms, Inc. META has been offering OpenAI staff up to $100 million in signing bonuses amid fierce competition for AI expertise. Meanwhile, Google has hired the CEO and staff of AI startup Windsurf in a $2.4 billion deal. Price Action: Microsoft shares are up 20.71% so far this year and have risen 14.07% over the past 12 months. On Tuesday, the stock slipped 0.94% during regular trading, according to Benzinga Pro data. Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings show that MSFT maintains strong momentum across short, medium, and long-term periods. However, despite this solid momentum, the stock's value score remains relatively weak. Additional performance details are available here. Photo Courtesy: Tada Images on Shutterstock.com Read Next: Walmart, Microsoft, Disney Slash Jobs As Trump Tariffs, AI Push Corporate America Into Layoff Mode Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. GOOGAlphabet Inc$192.690.81%Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock RankingsEdge RankingsMomentum43.87Growth87.12Quality87.21Value50.79Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewGOOGLAlphabet Inc$191.850.92%METAMeta Platforms Inc$706.63-0.89%MSFTMicrosoft Corp$507.41-0.52%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs