Noam Shazeer is leaving Google to join OpenAI. Winni Wintermeyer for The Washington Post via Getty Images Noam Shazeer is leaving Google to join OpenAI as competition for AI talent intensifies. Shazeer is a Google veteran and the founder of chatbot startup Character.AI. Shazeer was a key part of Google's early LLM development efforts. Noam Shazeer, a co-lead at Gemini and the founder of Character.AI is leaving Google to join OpenAI in the latest AI talent war move. In an X post on Wednesday, Shazeer announced his departure and said he looks forward to working with the "exceptional team" at the ChatGPT maker. "It was a difficult decision to move on. I'm incredibly proud of the amazing team at Google and everything we've built together," Shazeer wrote. "It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with all of you." The Gemini co-lead joined Google in 2000 and stayed with the company, aside from a three-year period when he left to cofound the chatbot-building startup Character.AI. In 2024, the search giant rehired the founders and paid for non-exclusive rights to use the startup's technology. Character.AI remains a separate legal entity. In 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google paid Character.AI $2.7 billion for a special deal that gave Google access to the startup's technology, and an agreement that Shazeer would have to work for Google again. Shazeer was a key part of Google's early AI development efforts. A 2017 paper he coauthored is largely seen as the kickstarter to present-day large language models. Shazeer's move to the IPO-bound company is the latest in a series of top-talent reshuffles at AI heavyweights. Labs, including OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Anthropic, are offering top researchers and engineers enormous pay packages and devising complex acqui-hire deals to incentivize them to make the jump. Read the original article on Business Insider
Noam Shazeer is leaving Google to join OpenAI.Winni Wintermeyer for The Washington Post via Getty Images Noam Shazeer is leaving Google to join OpenAI as competition for AI talent intensifies. Shazeer is a Google veteran and the founder of chatbot startup Character.AI. Shazeer was a key part of Google's early LLM development efforts. Noam Shazeer, a co-lead at Gemini and the founder of Character.AI is leaving Google to join OpenAI in the latest AI talent war move. In an X post on Wednesday, Shazeer announced his departure and said he looks forward to working with the "exceptional team" at the ChatGPT maker. "It was a difficult decision to move on. I'm incredibly proud of the amazing team at Google and everything we've built together," Shazeer wrote. "It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with all of you." The Gemini co-lead joined Google in 2000 and stayed with the company, aside from a three-year period when he left to cofound the chatbot-building startup Character.AI. In 2024, the search giant rehired the founders and paid for non-exclusive rights to use the startup's technology. Character.AI remains a separate legal entity. In 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google paid Character.AI $2.7 billion for a special deal that gave Google access to the startup's technology, and an agreement that Shazeer would have to work for Google again. Shazeer was a key part of Google's early AI development efforts. A 2017 paper he coauthored is largely seen as the kickstarter to present-day large language models. Shazeer's move to the IPO-bound company is the latest in a series of top-talent reshuffles at AI heavyweights. Labs, including OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Anthropic, are offering top researchers and engineers enormous pay packages and devising complex acqui-hire deals to incentivize them to make the jump. Read the original article on Business Insider
