The acquihire fallback plan might work with other areas, but the valuation of a top AI team/startup is now in the high tens or even hundreds of millions. Almost all single contracts would not be sufficient to pay for that.

Moreover, the acquirer must be willing to pay salaries competitive with Google, Facebook, and the likes to keep the team. From what I heard, IBM is not willing to do that. If anyone has information to the contrary, please feel free to correct me.