Shazeer, a key figure behind Google’s Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), left the company in October 2021 to launch the chatbot startup Character.AI, which later gained investment from the Shazeer-founded firm a16z, according to TechCrunch in August. Now, Shazeer is returning to Google as part of a broader collaboration between Google and Character.AI, under a non-exclusive agreement allowing Google to leverage Character.AI’s technology.
Shazeer, along with several key employees from Character.AI, will assume leadership roles at DeepMind. In his absence, Character.AI’s general counsel, Dominic Perella, will serve as interim CEO.
Google reportedly paid around $2.7 billion to license Character.AI’s technology and bring Shazeer back to spearhead its AI initiatives. This deal also involved Google acquiring stakes from Character.AI investors and employees, with Shazeer receiving a significant payout, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Despite Character.AI’s impressive user base of over 20 million monthly active users, the startup struggled with monetization and managing user behavior.
Shazeer is now one of three leaders overseeing Google’s latest AI project, Gemini. Analyst Laura Martin of Needham predicts that Google’s proprietary large language models (LLMs) will drive significant growth over the next 3-5 years. Martin also highlighted Google and Amazon as key players in the competitive race to develop next-generation AI tools.
GOOGL stock has seen a 24% rise over the past 12 months as Google continues to integrate AI into its Search and other businesses. At the last check on Wednesday, GOOGL shares were up 0.27%, trading at $162.73.