A recent report from The Wall Street Journal reveals that Google has invested $2.7 billion to reintegrate Noam Shazeer, the 48-year-old co-founder of Character.AI, into the company.
Shazeer, who previously worked at Google but left in 2021 to pursue entrepreneurial ventures, had initially departed because Google opted not to launch a chatbot he developed with his colleague Daniel De Freitas. Following their departure, Shazeer and De Freitas founded Character.AI, which quickly established itself as a prominent AI startup in Silicon Valley, achieving a $1 billion valuation just last year.
The $2.7 billion agreement extends beyond a simple financial investment; it includes a licensing deal that allows Google to utilize Character.AI's cutting-edge technology. This arrangement also facilitates the return of Shazeer, De Freitas, and key members of their research team to DeepMind, Google's AI division. According to The Wall Street Journal, this strategy aims to bolster Google's capabilities in the rapidly advancing domain of artificial intelligence.
Rather than pursuing a full acquisition of Character.AI, which would have involved extensive regulatory scrutiny and potential delays, Google opted for this licensing approach. This decision allows the tech giant to access and utilize Character.AI's intellectual property more quickly and efficiently, thereby accelerating its AI development efforts.
Shazeer's return to Google is considered a crucial element of this agreement, with many company insiders optimistic about the potential impact of his expertise. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has publicly expressed his confidence in Shazeer's abilities, suggesting that Shazeer has the talent and vision necessary to create an AI model with human-like intelligence.
"If there's anybody I can think of in the world who's likely to do it, it's going to be him," Schmidt said of Shazeer during a talk at Stanford University in 2015.
