Google Rehires AI Expert Noam Shazeer : Google had to spend $2.7 billion to bring back AI expert Noam Shazeer, who had left the company to start his own business. The 48-year-old engineer first joined Google in 2000 but decided to leave in 2021 after the company declined his request to launch a chatbot he had developed with his colleague, Daniel De Freitas.

Shazeer’s Brilliance Fuels His $2.7B Return to Google: Co-founder of Character.AI Joins DeepMind After $1B Startup Success

Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas co-founded Character.AI, which rapidly became a leading AI startup in Silicon Valley, achieving a $1 billion valuation last year. After their success, Google revealed that both Shazeer and De Freitas would be joining its AI division, DeepMind. The Wall Street Journal reported that Google paid $2.7 billion to license Character.AI’s technology and bring Shazeer back to the company.

In 2017, Noam Shazeer launched Meena, a chatbot that could interact with humans on a broad range of subjects. He was confident enough to predict that Meena would eventually replace Google’s search engine. However, Google leaders considered the release of Meena too risky because of concerns regarding safety and fairness, according to the Journal.

The licensing deal allows Google to swiftly access Character.AI’s intellectual property without the need for regulatory approval. The report also noted that Noam Shazeer’s return to Google is regarded by employees as a significant reason behind the acquisition of Character.AI.

Noam Shazeer Leads Development of Gemini: Can Google’s AI Compete with ChatGPT?

Noam Shazeer is set to lead Google’s efforts in developing the next version of Gemini, the company’s next-generation AI model aimed at competing with rivals like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

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