Press Release 08/2025
July 25, 2025

The AdC highlights that talent shortages and restrictions to labour mobility hamper competition in AI

The Portuguese Competition Authority (AdC) warned that companies operating in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector may have incentives to implement talent retention strategies that could harm competition and stifle innovation — particularly when adopted by firms with market power.

Main findings
In a new study published today, the AdC analyses the competitive effects of strategies such as mass hiring of rival teams ("acquihires"), restrictive labour clauses, and agreements between firms not to hire each other’s employees.
The AdC stresses that such strategies, when likely to exclude rivals or limit the mobility of specialised workers, fall under the scrutiny of competition policy.
The document — the third short paper released by the AdC on generative AI — is published against the backdrop of a global shortage of highly qualified talent in this field.
The AdC has found that non-compete and confidentiality clauses are particularly prevalent in the digital and AI sectors. While these clauses may be lawful under labour law, their use by dominant firms to foreclose rivals may amount to an infringement of competition law.
The study also notes that certain practices — such as “reverse acquihires”, whereby a company hires nearly the entire team of another firm without acquiring its formal structure — may qualify as concentrations under merger control rules. The AdC advocates for scrutiny of such strategies.
Among the risks to competition identified are reduced access to key personnel, restrictions on labour mobility, and impediments to innovation.
The AdC considers that labour mobility plays a key role in the dissemination of knowledge and the promotion of innovation — especially in an emerging, knowledge-intensive sector such as AI.
With this publication, the AdC strengthens its position among the competition authorities leading the analysis of competitive implications arising from generative AI.

Background
This latest study follows two short papers published in 2024 — on data access and use, and on the openness of AI models — and complements an issues paper launched in 2023.
This series aims to identify emerging risks to competition in digital markets and to support the AdC’s proactive and informed enforcement strategy.