In a significant move highlighting the fierce competition for top AI talent, Google has rehired Noam Shazeer, a pivotal figure in artificial intelligence, for approximately $2.7 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Shazeer, co-author of the influential research paper “Attention is All You Need,” initially left Google in 2021 to found his own startup, Character.AI, after disagreements over the release of a chatbot project.
Character.AI, which struggled financially despite significant investments, ultimately led to Google’s substantial payout to license its technology. The deal not only involved acquiring Character’s assets but also included Shazeer’s return to Google, where he is now a key leader in advancing the company’s AI efforts, notably contributing to the development of Google’s next-generation AI technology, Gemini.
The move has sparked discussions within Silicon Valley about the escalating costs associated with acquiring AI talent. Critics question whether such large financial investments are justified, raising concerns over potential overspending by tech giants in their pursuit of AI supremacy.
“Noam is clearly a great person in that space. Is he 20 times as good as other people?” commented Christopher Manning, director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
Shazeer’s journey at Google began in 2000, where he played a crucial role in enhancing the search engine’s capabilities before transitioning to groundbreaking AI research. His departure in 2021 underscored broader debates within Google about risk aversion in AI development. His return marks a strategic pivot for Google, aiming to accelerate AI innovation amid intensifying global competition.
While specifics about how Google plans to integrate Character’s technology remain unclear, the deal reflects a trend among tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon, who have similarly acquired struggling AI startups to gain access to top-tier AI researchers without navigating lengthy regulatory approvals for acquisitions.
