US senators call out Big Tech’s new approach to poaching talent, products from smaller AI startups

In the race to stay ahead in artificial intelligence, the biggest technology companies are swallowing up the talent and products of innovative AI startups without formally acquiring them. But, in plain English, a few companies control a major portion of the market, and just concentrate — rather than on innovation — trying to buy out everybody else’s talent.” So-called “acqui-hires,” in which one company acquires another to absorb talent, have been common in the tech industry for decades, said Michael A. Cusumano, a business professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “To acquire only some employees or the majority, but not all, license technology, leave the company functioning but not really competing, that’s a new twist,” Cusumano said. But continuing on that path “would’ve required spending significant attention on fundraising for our foundation models, rather than bringing to life our agent vision,” it said in a statement explaining the Amazon deal. But in the AI industry, he said, “companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Google, either own major parts of the AI ecosystem or they have a leg up thanks to their massive resources.” The letter asks enforcers to examine how tech giants are entrenching their AI dominance “through partnerships, equity deals, acquisitions, cloud computing credits, and other arrangements.” John F. Coyle, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, said he believes that Amazon hiring Adept employees without buying the company is clearly a move to avoid antitrust problems.