Google Rehired Noam Shazeer With Major Payout, Assigns Leadership In AI Development: Report

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google has rehired artificial intelligence pioneer Noam Shazeer.

Shazeer, known for his work on the Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), left Google in October 2021 to launch the chatbot startup Character.AI, which gained backing from Shazeer-founded firm a16z, TechCrunch reported in August.

His return is part of a broader collaboration, as Google signed a non-exclusive agreement with Character.AI to leverage its technology.

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Shazeer and several key employees from Character.AI will take on leading roles at DeepMind. Character.AI’s general counsel, Dominic Perella, will temporarily step in as interim CEO of Character.AI.

To regain Shazeer’s talent, Google reportedly paid around $2.7 billion to license Character.AI’s technology and bring Shazeer back to lead its AI efforts. Google acquired stakes from Character investors and employees, with Shazeer receiving a substantial payout, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Character.AI, despite boasting over 20 million monthly active users, the startup faced challenges monetizing its services and controlling user behavior.

According to reports, Shazeer is now one of three leaders steering Google’s development of its latest AI project, Gemini.

Needham analyst Laura Martin expects Google’s proprietary large language models (LLMs) to drive significant upside over the next 3-5 years. The analyst hailed  Google and Amazon.Com Inc AMZN as the most likely beneficiaries of the current arms race to build GenAI tools and capabilities.

GOOGL stock has risen 24% in the last 12 months as it integrates AI technology into its Search and other businesses.

Price Action: GOOGL stock is up 0.27% at $162.73 at the last check on Wednesday.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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