Image: Envato/YuriArcursPeopleimages In the high-stakes race for AI dominance, Google’s DeepMind division is tightening its grip on talent, forcing some employees to sit out of the industry for up to a year if they leave. According to multiple reports and former employees, DeepMind, Google’s AI research lab, is using aggressive noncompete clauses to block staff, especially those working on key projects like the Gemini AI model, from joining rivals like OpenAI or Microsoft for months after quitting. Some senior-level researchers are subject to a full year of paid “garden leave,” during which they are prohibited from taking other roles. “That’s forever in AI” A six-month or year-long pause can kill a researcher’s career momentum in a field where breakthroughs happen frequently. “Who wants to sign you for starting in a year?” one former DeepMind employee told Business Insider. “That’s forever in AI.” The issue blew up publicly last month when Nando de Freitas, a former DeepMind director now leading AI at Microsoft, posted on X that he gets weekly messages from DeepMind employees “in despair” …