Alphabet's artificial intelligence research subsidiary, Google DeepMind, has reportedly agreed to recruit over 20 researchers from AI startup Contextual AI and license its technology, according to informed sources. Sources indicate Alphabet paid Contextual between $80 million and $90 million for the arrangement, with Contextual's co-founder and CEO Douwe Kiela also set to join DeepMind. This represents the latest move by Google's parent company to secure talent through licensing agreements. Last year, Google paid $2.4 billion in licensing fees for non-exclusive access to some technology from AI code-generation startup Windsurf and hired several of its key employees. This practice, known as "acqui-hiring," where tech giants pay substantial sums to acquire the talent and technology of promising startups without formally acquiring the companies, is drawing increasing scrutiny from antitrust regulators. It is viewed as an attempt to circumvent merger regulations. Unlike acquisitions, which grant the buyer controlling interest, such transactions do not require review by U.S. antitrust authorities. In December of last year, NVIDIA agreed to license chip technology from Groq and hire its CEO, without acquiring the startup.
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