Google spends $2.7 billion to bring back AI genius Noam Shazeer who quit after firm rejected his chatbot

Google has reportedly spent $2.7 billion to bring back Noam Shazeer, a key figure in artificial intelligence who he left the company to start his own venture. Shazeer, 48, first joined Google in 2000 but left the technology giant in 2021 following the company’s refusal to launch a chatbot he developed alongside colleague Daniel De Freitas, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Founding Character.AI and making it a $1 billion startup

After leaving, Shazeer and De Freitas co-founded Character.AI, a startup that quickly became a major player in Silicon Valley’s AI scene, reaching a $1 billion valuation last year. Google later announced that both Shazeer and De Freitas were returning to work at Google’s AI division, DeepMind. As part of the deal, Google paid $2.7 billion to license Character.AI's technology and bring Shazeer back into the fold, The Wall Street Journal noted.

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Through this licensing agreement, Google gained immediate access to Character.AI’s technology without waiting for regulatory clearance. Many within the company view Shazeer’s return as a key reason for Google’s decision to acquire Character.AI, the report highlighted.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, commenting on Shazeer in 2015, said, “If there’s anybody I can think of in the world who’s likely to do it, it’s going to be him.” Later, in 2017, Shazeer also created Meena, a chatbot designed to converse with people on a variety of topics. He was so confident in its capabilities that he believed it could eventually replace Google’s search engine. However, Google executives at the time were hesitant to release Meena due to concerns over safety and fairness, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Shazeer to lead development of Google’s AI model Gemini

Now back at Google, Shazeer is leading the development of Gemini, the company’s new AI model, as part of efforts to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The report also mentioned that Shazeer, once a critic of Google’s cautious stance on AI, is now one of three key leaders in charge of developing Gemini, the next phase of Google’s AI technology.

(With inputs from agencies)