Google re-ropes in Noam Shazeer for 2.7 Billion Dollars

Google has re-hired its long-time researcher, Noam Shazeer, to co-lead its AI models in a $2.7 billion deal. Mr Shazeer quit Google in 2021 after being a part of the company for 21 years. He reportedly quit when the company refused to launch a chatbot head, he had built along with a colleague. He went on to head the Character.AI.

He reportedly quit when the company refused to launch a chatbot he had built along with a colleague. He went on to head the Character. AI. Character.AI reached a valuation of $1 Billion last year.

With this deal, Google gets both Character.AI and Mr Shazeer back. The deal, resembling similar moves by Amazon and Microsoft to nab top talent from AI startups, comes at a time when the Big Tech companies are facing regulatory scrutiny.

Shazeer is serving as a technical lead on Gemini - Google's AI chatbot - joining the other co-leaders Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals. Gemini is the line of AI models being developed by DeepMind, Google's AI division, and which are being integrated into products such as Search and Pixel smartphones.

Noam Shazeer has returned to the tech giant through a process known as a 'reverse acqui-hire,' sparking concerns about stifling competition and allowing large corporations to dominate the industry. The billion-dollar deal to rehire a former employee, especially amid widespread layoffs in the tech sector, highlights the intense focus major companies are placing on AI, a field that brings its own set of concerns.