Gemini, Google's primary AI initiative, will be co-led by Noam Shazeer, a former Google researcher and Co-Founder of the AI startup Character.AI. Shazeer will share the role of technical director with Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals. DeepMind, Google's AI division, has developed Gemini, a series of sophisticated AI models that are being integrated into crucial products, such as the Pixel and Search smartphones. Shazeer's return to Google is the result of a lucrative agreement in which the technology behemoth reportedly awarded billions to him and a select group of employees in exchange for their return from Character.AI. This action underscores Google's ongoing strategy to attract the most talented AI professionals in the face of escalating competition and regulatory scrutiny.
Noam Shazeer, who first joined Google in 2000, played a pivotal role in the company’s AI advancements, co-authoring a seminal 2017 research paper that has been instrumental in the current AI boom. Character.AI, which leverages the technologies from this paper, raised $193 million and was valued at $1 billion In 2023. Google was previously in talks to invest in Character.AI but ultimately decided to reintegrate Shazeer into its AI leadership. This decision mirrors similar strategic moves by other tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft, as the race for AI supremacy intensifies.
