UK AI Researchers Push to End Garden Leave Rules
Posts highlight how non-compete clauses delay AI startup launches in Britain.
Nando de Freitas posted that California allows starting a company the day after leaving Google, while UK firms impose one-year garden leaves on senior AI researchers and six-month leaves on others. Markus Wulfmeier, Ian Hogarth, Nantas Nardelli, Russ Salakhutdinov, Brendan O'Donoghue and Thore Graepel replied in agreement. They stated the clauses slow startup formation, hurt the UK AI ecosystem and put Britain at a disadvantage versus California. Several called for the government to make garden leave optional or remove non-competes. Nando de Freitas added support for policy change and noted Google DeepMind enforces the rules only because UK law permits it.
What UK AI startups need: @KanishkaNarayan In California, one can start a company the day after leaving Google. My colleagues Jeff Dean, Oriol Vinyals et al made this very clear recently with their impressive speed. In the UK, the same American companies impose 1 year gardenā¦
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20 postsEH 
Edward Hughes@edwardfhughes@NandoDF is absolutely spot on here. This would be a very easy win for the government: great for growth, equalises the rules with Silicon Valley, benefits UK employees and UK startups. I would love to see legislation for this in the next parliamentary session.
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EH Edward Hughes@edwardfhughes@NandoDF is absolutely spot on here. This would be a very easy win for the government: great for growth, equalises the rules with Silicon Valley, benefits UK employees and UK startups. I would love to see legislation for this in the next parliamentary session.
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ND Nando de Freitas@NandoDFBTW @KanishkaNarayan ā you have all our support in bringing this important change into effect. Itās an easy step, but it will transform entrepreneurship in the UK.
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BO Brendan O'Donoghue@bodonoghue85Garden leave isn't enforceable in California, but in the UK employers can force AI talent to sit on the sidelines for 6 months to a year. This is terrible for the UK AI ecosystem, and puts the UK economy at a real disadvantage. We need reform here!
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ND Nando de Freitas@NandoDFTo be clear, @GoogleDeepMind enforces these because UK gov currently allows it. However, I think this is terrible for them too. @GoogleDeepMind has been one of the greatest places to do AI research in the UK, full of exceptional people, and a great work life balance - I highlyā¦
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NN Nantas Nardelli@nntsnDo we want the UK (and the EU!) to move fast? If so, non-competes need to go.
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