{"slug": "geminis-co-lead-is-leaving-google-to-join-openai", "title": "Gemini’s co-lead is leaving Google to join OpenAI", "summary": "Noam Shazeer, VP of engineering at Google and co-lead of Gemini, announced he is leaving Google to join OpenAI. Shazeer previously founded Character.ai and returned to Google in 2024 via a licensing deal. His departure marks a significant talent shift between the two AI leaders.", "body_md": "VP of engineering at Google and the co-lead of Gemini, Noam Shazeer, has announced he is departing his role to work at OpenAI.\n\nNoam Shazeer announced in [a post on Twitter/X](https://x.com/NoamShazeer/status/2067400851438932297) this evening that he would be departing Google to join OpenAI. His new role wasn’t mentioned in the post, but it’s a major change seeing as Shazeer is a co-lead over Gemini and a VP of Engineering at Google, a role he’s been at since August of 2024 according Shazeer’s LinkedIn [profile](https://www.linkedin.com/in/noam-shazeer-3b27288/).\n\nPrior to his work as a Gemini co-lead, Shazeer worked as a software engineer from 2000 through 2021, acting as the CEO of Character.ai from late 2021 through 2024 when he returned to Google. A[ licensing deal between Google and Character.ai](https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/google-hires-characterai-cofounders-licenses-its-models-information-reports-2024-08-02/#:~:text=%22We%27re%20particularly%20thrilled%20to%20welcome%20back%20Noam%2C%20a%20preeminent%20researcher%20in%20machine%20learning%2C%20who%20is%20joining%20Google%20DeepMind%27s%20research%20team%2C%20along%20with%20a%20small%20number%20of%20his%20colleagues%2C%22%20a%20Google%20spokesperson%20said%20in%20an%20email.) was made that same month.\n\nSpeaking to * Reuters*, Google said that the company is “grateful for Noam’s meaningful contributions to Google over the years.”\n\n**Follow Ben:** [Twitter/X](https://twitter.com/NexusBen), [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@nexusben), [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/nexusben.com), and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/nexusben)\n\n*FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.* [More.](https://9to5mac.com/about/#affiliate)\n\n[our homepage](http://9to5google.com/)for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on\n\n[exclusive stories](https://9to5google.com/feature/exclusive/),\n\n[reviews](https://9to5google.com/guides/reviews/),\n\n[how-tos](https://9to5google.com/guides/how-to/), and\n\n[subscribe to our YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/9to5google)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/geminis-co-lead-is-leaving-google-to-join-openai", "canonical_source": "https://9to5google.com/2026/06/17/geminis-co-lead-is-leaving-google-to-join-openai/", "published_at": "2026-06-18 01:45:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-18 02:28:00.587549+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-research", "ai-startups"], "entities": ["Noam Shazeer", "Google", "OpenAI", "Gemini", "Character.ai"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/geminis-co-lead-is-leaving-google-to-join-openai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/geminis-co-lead-is-leaving-google-to-join-openai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/geminis-co-lead-is-leaving-google-to-join-openai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/geminis-co-lead-is-leaving-google-to-join-openai.jsonld"}}