{"slug": "google-paid-2-7b-to-keep-its-best-ai-researcher-he-left-anyway", "title": "Google Paid $2.7B to Keep Its Best AI Researcher. He Left Anyway.", "summary": "Google paid $2.7 billion to bring back Noam Shazeer, the inventor of the transformer architecture, but he left for OpenAI in June 2026. The departure is part of a broader talent exodus from Google DeepMind, with top researchers like Nobel laureate John Jumper joining Anthropic and others moving to AI startups. The trend is attributed to a lack of autonomy and internal compute competition at Google, despite high compensation.", "body_md": "In 2024, Google paid $2.7 billion to bring Noam Shazeer back. Shazeer invented the transformer architecture, the foundation behind GPT, Gemini, and Claude. Google said: \"We can't lose this person.\"\n\nJune 2026. Shazeer is leaving Google for OpenAI.\n\nThis isn't one person's story. It's a pattern. Google DeepMind's best researchers are walking out the door to AI startups, one by one.\n\n**Noam Shazeer** — The man who invented the transformer. Co-lead of Google's Gemini model. Google paid $2.7 billion to buy him back from Character.AI. Now joining OpenAI. ([Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/google-gemini-co-lead-noam-shazeer-join-ipo-bound-openai-2026-06-19/), [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/19/noam-shazeer-google-openai.html), [The Information](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/star-google-ai-researcher-shazeer-joins-openai))\n\n**John Jumper** — Co-creator of AlphaFold. Won the 2024 Nobel Prize alongside Demis Hassabis for protein structure prediction. Spent nearly nine years at Google DeepMind. Now joining Anthropic. ([CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/19/john-jumper-google-deepmind-anthropic.html), [Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/alpha-fold-pioneer-nobel-prize-deepmind-anthropic-leaves-google), [the-decoder.com](https://the-decoder.com/google-deepmind-loses-another-top-ai-researcher-nobel-laureate-john-jumper-leaves-for-anthropic))\n\n**Ruoming Pang** — Meta hired him for $200 million to lead their Superintelligence team. He jumped to OpenAI after just 7 months. ([observer.com](https://observer.com/2026/06/ruoming-pang-meta-200m-superintelligence-hire-jumps-to-openai))\n\n**4 Apple AI researchers** — Including Apple's top Siri leader, all departed. ([MacDailyNews](https://macdailynews.com/2026/06/19/four-ai-researchers-top-siri-leader-depart-apple))\n\n**9 of 12 xAI co-founders** — Left Musk's AI lab. ([tech-insider.org](https://tech-insider.org/9-of-12-xai-co-founders-have-left-musks-lab))\n\nOne thing is clear. The problem isn't pay. Google pays well. The problem is autonomy.\n\nThe Los Angeles Times reported that Google researchers are quitting over a \"compute crunch\" — internal competition for GPU access that slows down research and frustrates top talent. ([LA Times](https://latimes.com/technology/story/2026-06-ai-compute-crunch-researchers-quit))\n\nAt startups? Start an experiment today. Fail tomorrow. Try again. Nobody's stopping you.\n\nOpenAI and Anthropic have another card to play — equity. Google has RSUs, but startup equity can be worth far more. OpenAI has filed for a US IPO, targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion. Early equity holders could see massive payouts. ([Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-files-us-ipo-after-anthropic-ai-giants-head-public-markets-2026-06-18/), [Cybernews](https://cybernews.com/tech/openai-files-ipo-trillion-dollar-ai-boom-anthropic-rivalry/))\n\nGoogle isn't sitting still.\n\n**1. Throwing money at retention**\n\nThey paid $2.7 billion to bring Shazeer back. Two years later, he left again. Money can't hold people.\n\n**2. Compute advantage**\n\nGoogle has massive GPU clusters. Startups don't. But the LA Times report suggests even Google's compute advantage is causing internal friction — too many teams competing for the same resources.\n\n**3. Product momentum**\n\nDespite the exodus, Google's AI products remain strong. Gemini 2.5 is competitive. DeepMind continues publishing breakthrough research. Accenture recently expanded its partnership with Google Cloud for enterprise AI using Gemini. ([Axios](https://www.axios.com/google-deepmind-winning-ai-financing-race))\n\nThe question is whether product momentum can outlast the talent drain.\n\nThink about it. Noam Shazeer invented the transformer. That's the foundation of the AI revolution. That person is now working at OpenAI.\n\nJohn Jumper cracked protein folding. Anthropic just picked him up.\n\nGoogle spent billions on their research. When those researchers mature, they leave for other companies. The question is whether this brain drain eventually shows up in Google's products — or whether Google's scale and compute advantage compensate for it.\n\nDemis Hassabis is still there. But the people around him are thinning out.\n\nThe question is — which path are you on? Big corporate, scrappy startup, or building something of your own? 🙏\n\n**Sources:**", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-paid-2-7b-to-keep-its-best-ai-researcher-he-left-anyway", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/jamilxt/google-paid-27b-to-keep-its-best-ai-researcher-he-left-anyway-3771", "published_at": "2026-06-21 07:08:08+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-21 08:06:53.709840+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-research", "ai-startups", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Google", "OpenAI", "Anthropic", "Noam Shazeer", "John Jumper", "DeepMind", "Character.AI", "xAI"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-paid-2-7b-to-keep-its-best-ai-researcher-he-left-anyway", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-paid-2-7b-to-keep-its-best-ai-researcher-he-left-anyway.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-paid-2-7b-to-keep-its-best-ai-researcher-he-left-anyway.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-paid-2-7b-to-keep-its-best-ai-researcher-he-left-anyway.jsonld"}}