• Apple has lured away 36 Googlers with AI expertise since 2018, the Financial Times reported.
• It’s part of a broader talent war among Big Tech firms seeking to bolster their AI capabilities.
• The battle could escalate when Microsoft opens an AI hub on Google DeepMind’s home turf in London.

Apple has convinced at least 36 Googlers with AI expertise to jump ship since 2018, according to a Financial Times analysis of LinkedIn profiles.

An Apple research paper on multimodal large language models published last month listed six authors who were former Google staff and had been recruited in the past two years, the report says.

Nine of the 31 authors listed on the research paper had Google listed as their last employer on their LinkedIn profiles, Business Insider found, and two authors came from Microsoft.

The discovery comes amid a broader AI talent war among Big Tech firms as they seek to bolster their capabilities.

Google successfully enticed OpenAI’s former head of developer relations, Logan Kilpatrick, to join its ranks this month.

One AI worker previously told BI they had received a call from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to persuade him to join the company behind ChatGPT. He accepted the offer.

Even Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been trying to poach Google’s AI researchers by sending them personal emails, The Information reported last month.

Some senior Microsoft leaders have also departed to join other firms in roles with an AI focus, Fortune recently reported. They include former executive Gurdeep Singh Pall, who became software management firm Qualtrics’ AI president earlier this month.

The battle for AI expertise could further intensify as Microsoft recently revealed plans for an AI hub on Google Deep Mind’s home turf in London. It aims to hire “exceptional individuals” soon.

It’s not just the Big Tech firms competing for AI talent. Even startups are trying to secure expertise that will help them to expand.

The newly appointed CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, told the FT last month: “It is hyper-competitive at both ends of the spectrum. At the small, start-up scale everybody is on fire in terms of their creativity. And at the big end, everyone’s going head-to-head there, too. I think it’s just a ferociously competitive time to be working in tech.”

Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Are you a tech worker with insights to share? Contact this reporter at jmann@businessinsider.com