{"slug": "a-google-veteran-who-founded-character-ai-is-jumping-to-openai", "title": "A Google veteran who founded Character.AI is jumping to OpenAI", "summary": "Noam Shazeer, a Google veteran and founder of Character.AI, is leaving Google to join OpenAI, marking another major talent reshuffle in the AI industry. Shazeer co-led Google's Gemini project and co-authored a seminal 2017 paper on large language models. His move follows Google's $2.7 billion deal with Character.AI in 2024 that required him to return to Google.", "body_md": "Noam Shazeer, a co-lead at Gemini and the founder of Character.AI is leaving Google to [join OpenAI](https://www.businessinsider.com/gary-marcus-ai-openai-ipo-nvidia-orcl-nvda-crwv-02026-6) in the latest AI talent war move.\n\nIn an X post on Wednesday, Shazeer announced his departure and said he looks forward to working with the \"exceptional team\" at the ChatGPT maker.\n\n\"It was a difficult decision to move on. I'm incredibly proud of the amazing team at Google and everything we've built together,\" Shazeer wrote. \"It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with all of you.\"\n\nThe Gemini co-lead joined Google in 2000 and stayed with the company, aside from a three-year period when he left to cofound the [chatbot-building startup Character.AI](https://www.businessinsider.com/google-character-ai-settling-lawsuits-teen-suicides-new-york-texas-2026-1). In 2024, the search giant rehired the founders and paid for non-exclusive rights to use the startup's technology. Character.AI remains a separate legal entity.\n\nIn 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google paid Character.AI $2.7 billion for a special deal that gave Google access to the startup's technology, and an agreement that Shazeer would have to work for Google again.\n\nShazeer was a key part of Google's early AI development efforts. A 2017 paper he coauthored is largely seen as the kickstarter to present-day large language models.\n\nShazeer's move to the IPO-bound company is the latest in a series of top-talent reshuffles at AI heavyweights. Labs, including OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Anthropic, are offering top researchers and engineers [enormous pay packages](https://www.businessinsider.com/top-paying-ai-internships-fellowships-residencies-openai-anthropic-meta-google-2025-12#anthropic-safety-fellow-1) and devising complex acqui-hire deals to incentivize them to make the jump.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/a-google-veteran-who-founded-character-ai-is-jumping-to-openai", "canonical_source": "https://www.businessinsider.com/google-veteran-founded-characterai-is-jumping-to-openai-talent-war-2026-6", "published_at": "2026-06-18 02:34:03+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-18 03:00:18.703037+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "large-language-models", "ai-research", "ai-startups", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Noam Shazeer", "Character.AI", "OpenAI", "Google", "Gemini", "Meta", "Anthropic", "ChatGPT"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/a-google-veteran-who-founded-character-ai-is-jumping-to-openai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/a-google-veteran-who-founded-character-ai-is-jumping-to-openai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/a-google-veteran-who-founded-character-ai-is-jumping-to-openai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/a-google-veteran-who-founded-character-ai-is-jumping-to-openai.jsonld"}}