In a bid to solidify its position at the forefront of artificial intelligence, Microsoft CEO Mustafa Suleyman is intensifying his war for top talent by luring former Google DeepMind employees into his fold.
Building a Talented Team: Microsoft’s War for AI Talent
Mustafa Suleyman, the new CEO of Microsoft AI, has been making waves in the tech industry by poaching top talent from his former companies, including Google DeepMind and Inflection AI. The latest additions to his team are several former Google DeepMind staffers who have joined a new consumer health unit under Microsoft AI.
The Talent Pool: Former Google DeepMind Employees Join Microsoft
The London-based health team will include ex-Google DeepMind employees like Dominic King and Christopher Kelly. King previously headed Google DeepMind’s health unit, while Kelly acted as one of its research scientists. “The potential for artificial intelligence to address some of the world’s biggest healthcare challenges is advancing at an extraordinary pace,” said Kelly in a recent LinkedIn post announcing his new position at Microsoft.
Building on Former Successes
Suleyman co-founded DeepMind in London in 2010 with his friend Demis Hassabis, who currently heads the Google-owned research lab. Hassabis won this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for breakthroughs in protein structure design enabled by DeepMind’s AlphaFold project. He additionally heads Isomorphic Labs, an Alphabet subsidiary focused on using A.I. for drug discovery.
Microsoft’s Focus vs. Google’s Approach
Suleyman joined Microsoft after the company struck a licensing deal with his startup Inflection AI. At Microsoft, Suleyman oversees the incorporation of A.I. in consumer products like Copilot, Bing, and Edge. Microsoft is more focused on what consumers want, while Google’s emphasis sways towards building “cool technology,” said Suleyman in a recent interview with The Verge.
Expanding the Talent Pool
Káren Simonyan, a former DeepMind researcher who co-founded Inflection AI with Suleyman in 2022, joined him at Microsoft along with much of the startup’s 70-person workforce. Nando de Freitas, a former senior A.I. director at Google DeepMind, was hired by Microsoft AI in September. And Trevor Black, a longtime Google DeepMind product manager, joined this month.
The War for AI Talent Intensifies
In April, Suleyman amped up his talent war with the London-based Google DeepMind when he opened a new Microsoft AI hub in the city. He appointed Jordan Hoffman, an A.I. researcher who formerly worked at both Inflection AI and Google DeepMind, to run the London office.
