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Noam Shazeer is leaving Google to join OpenAI, according to a post on X on Wednesday. Shazeer said he looks forward to working with the “exceptional team” at the ChatGPT maker, adding that the decision was difficult. “I’m incredibly proud of the amazing team at Google and everything we’ve built together,” he wrote. “It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with all of you.”
Shazeer joined Google in 2000 and remained with the company, aside from a three-year period when he left to cofound the chatbot-building startup Character.AI.
In 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google paid Character.AI $2.7 billion for a special deal. The report said the arrangement gave Google access to Character.AI’s technology, and included an agreement under which Shazeer would have to work for Google again.
Shazeer was described as a key part of Google’s early AI development efforts. A 2017 paper he coauthored is widely viewed as a foundational step toward today’s large language models.
Shazeer’s move to an IPO-bound company is presented as the latest in a series of high-profile talent reshuffles across major AI labs. OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Anthropic have been offering large pay packages to researchers and engineers and using complex acqui-hire deals to encourage departures.
Ready Card users outside the European Economic Area have reportedly faced an abrupt service halt after a transition involving the card issuer disrupted the USDC spending product, according to user notices shared on X.
A notice shared…
