AI labs' extinction rhetoric vs. reality: why base in California where non-competes are unenforceable?
NathanpmYoung · x · 2026-09-18
Engineer Su Shenzang asks: if frontier AI labs' IP is truly so precious and existentially high-stakes, why are they still based in California, where non-competes can't be enforced? She describes Bay Area talent hopping between companies "like headless chickens" with "headless alpha" leaking everywhere.
NathanpmYoung guesses it's because staff matter too, and no single person can steal a non-negligible share of the IP.
A pointed industry debate on the gap between doom rhetoric and actual talent-retention practice at frontier labs.
More from Companies & People
- OpenAI launches Codex Ambassadors program, first members announced — paw_lean · 2026-09-18
- Chipotle partners with Palantir to track employee illness and food safety — eliano · 2026-09-18
- Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang Hypes New AI Product Muse as Smoother Than Grok — alexandr_wang · 2026-09-18
- Atlassian summit: 6K engineers, 1M agents — 84% of the SDLC happens outside the code — SucceededMind · 2026-09-18
- OpenAI and Anthropic staff reportedly blindsided by CEOs' calls to slow AI development — basedjensen · 2026-09-18
- SF Ruby Conference goes AI-heavy: Sergey Karayev to talk multiplayer AI for teams and agents — sergeykarayev · 2026-09-18