As competition in the field of artificial intelligence intensifies, tech giants are experiencing a fierce competition not only for products but also for human resources. Microsoft has recently taken a similar step to Meta’s aggressive AI engineering transfers. The company has acquired numerous senior executives from Google’s AI division, DeepMind.
The Microsoft-Google battle is beginning
The key figure behind this development is DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman. Suleyman, who founded DeepMind in 2010 and sold the company to Google in 2014, led Google’s AI programs for nearly 10 years.
Suleyman, who left Google in 2024 and joined Microsoft, has been the head of Microsoft AI since then. In recent months, he has been contacting members of his former team directly to recruit them to Microsoft.
Adam Sadovsky, a senior engineer at Google DeepMind, and Amar Subramanya, a vice president of engineering at Google, are among Microsoft’s recent acquisitions. In addition to these two individuals, over twenty other DeepMind employees have joined Microsoft AI. A significant portion of these transfers occurred directly through one-on-one meetings with Suleyman.
In these meetings, Suleyman reportedly described Microsoft AI as a more liberal and experimental structure, inheriting the spirit of DeepMind’s early years. The fact that Microsoft AI is still developing, with institutional rigidities not yet fully established, attracts the attention of experienced engineers. Those interested in working on large AI models, in particular, believe this structure offers them greater leeway.
Another factor contributing to Microsoft’s decision to make these transfers is the tensions in its relationship with OpenAI. The company has long been developing AI solutions using OpenAI’s technologies. However, the strategic alignment between the two companies has weakened over the past year.
