Google paid $2.7 billion to rehire AI legend; he now quits to join rival OpenAI: ‘It was a difficult decision’
Noam Shazeer, Google’s vice president of engineering and co-lead of its Gemini artificial intelligence models, has announced that he is leaving the company to join OpenAI.
Sharing the news on X, Shazeer wrote: “I’m excited to share that I’ll be joining OpenAI and look forward to working with the exceptional team there.”
The American computer scientist described the move as a difficult one and expressed gratitude towards his colleagues at Google.
“It was a difficult decision to move on. I’m incredibly proud of the amazing team at Google and everything we’ve built together. It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with all of you,” he added.
Exit sparks surprise across the AI industry
Shazeer’s departure quickly became a major talking point online, with many users describing it as a significant setback for Google.
The move has drawn particular attention because Google spent $2.7 billion in 2024 on a licensing deal with Character.AI, a transaction that also brought Shazeer back to the company.
His announcement came less than two years after that return.
From Google to Character.AI and back again
Shazeer first left Google in 2021 after the company chose not to release a conversational chatbot he had helped develop.
Following his departure, he co-founded Character.AI, which went on to become one of the most prominent AI start-ups.
In 2024, Google entered into a $2.7 billion agreement with Character.AI. The deal included a licence to use the start-up’s technology and resulted in Shazeer and several members of his team rejoining Google.
At the time, a Wall Street Journal report suggested that bringing Shazeer back was one of the key reasons behind the agreement.
One of the pioneers of modern AI
Shazeer, 48, was among Google’s earliest employees and is widely regarded as one of the leading figures in artificial intelligence research.
In 2017, he co-authored the influential research paper ‘Attention Is All You Need’ alongside seven other Google researchers. The paper introduced the transformer architecture, which forms the foundation of many of today’s advanced AI systems.
Social media reacts
Shazeer’s post announcing his move to OpenAI attracted widespread attention online. The post was viewed more than 1.5 million times within hours.
Many users described the move as one of the biggest talent shifts in the AI industry this year.
“This is likely the most significant AI talent move of the year. It makes you wonder what’s going on at Google,” one X user wrote.
Technology entrepreneur Yuchen Jin called it “Brutal news for Gemini”, adding: “Noam Shazeer, the AI legend Google paid $2.7B to bring back two years ago, has left Google, to join OpenAI.”
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman also welcomed the move.
“Noam is one of the people I have most wanted to work with since the very beginning of OpenAI. Only took 10 years. I think it will be worth the wait!” Altman wrote on X.
Another user highlighted the scale of Google’s investment in bringing Shazeer back, writing: “Google paid $2.7b to acquire him in 24 & couldn’t hold him 18 months later. That’s pretty insane. I don’t even know a good sports analogy that works here. Feels like they recruited AI Jesus.”
