“Stealing”, in the USA in 2019, is a statutory offense punishable by law.
Making a job offer to an academic that they accept isn’t a statutory offense punishable by law, and therefore is not stealing, no matter how much you play with semantics.
Making a job offer to an academic that they accept isn’t a statutory offense punishable by law, and therefore is not stealing, no matter how much you play with semantics.
Don’t worry about the phenomenon itself, which is 2 entities acting legally and of their own volition. Worry about the systems at play that enable the phenomenon. Universities are clearly not compensating (whether in terms of raw dollars or benefits) AI researchers sufficiently. That’s what one should be concerned about, not “theft” of AI researchers.