Google Rehires AI Pioneer Noam Shazeer in $2.7 Billion Deal with Character.AI

Google has entered a $2.7 billion agreement with AI startup Character.AI, reportedly aimed at rehiring Noam Shazeer, a former employee known for his contributions to AI chatbot technology. Shazeer, who was among Google’s first hundred employees, left the company in 2021 after developing an AI chatbot that the tech giant chose not to release publicly.

The deal, officially framed as a licensing agreement for Character.AI’s technology, also serves as a way to reintegrate Shazeer into Google’s DeepMind research team, which focuses on advancing AI capabilities. Shazeer had previously co-authored the influential 2017 paper “Attention is All You Need,” which introduced a key architecture in deep learning and has since been cited over 100,000 times.

After leaving Google, Shazeer founded Character.AI, raising over $150 million and achieving a valuation of $1 billion by March. His innovative work in conversational AI has made him a notable figure in the industry, with his LinkedIn profile claiming credit for significant advancements in large language models.

The financial terms of the agreement have reportedly made Shazeer hundreds of millions of dollars richer. Google’s recent move aligns with similar strategies by other tech giants, such as Amazon, which also secured licensing agreements to bolster its AI capabilities.