Google has rehired Noam Shazeer, a former employee who left the company in 2021, in a deal worth $2.7 billion. Shazeer, known for his significant contributions to Google’s AI projects, returns through a method called a ‘reverse acqui-hire.’
During his 21-year tenure at Google, Shazeer co-authored the pivotal 2017 paper “Attention is All You Need,” which laid the foundation for modern generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s own AI developments. In 2020, Shazeer and colleague Daniel De Freitas developed Meena, a chatbot capable of holding versatile conversations, but Google chose not to launch it due to concerns about potential inappropriate responses.
After leaving Google, Shazeer and De Freitas founded Character.ai in 2021, a chatbot service that allowed users to interact with AI representations of celebrities, fictional characters, and service providers. The startup raised $43 million in seed funding and logged hundreds of thousands of user interactions within its first three weeks of beta-testing. However, Character.ai struggled financially and faced challenges in managing user expectations, particularly around romantic AI interactions.
Google’s $2.7 billion deal to license Character.ai’s technology and bring back Shazeer, De Freitas, and other senior staff was finalized last month.
Google’s strategic rehiring of Shazeer
Shazeer now serves as a technical lead on Gemini, Google’s main AI project, alongside Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals.
The reverse acqui-hire approach allows Google to avoid regulatory hurdles that a complete merger would entail, thereby sidestepping antitrust issues. Such regulations are in place to prevent large companies from monopolizing the market by buying out competitors, which is essential in fostering innovation in emerging fields like AI. This strategic move illustrates the intense focus and investment major tech companies are placing on AI, even amid industry-wide layoffs.
It also highlights a growing trend where large corporations leverage innovative talent and technology from smaller firms to maintain a competitive edge without facing regulatory backlash. Google’s re-acquisition of Noam Shazeer through a $2.7 billion deal underscores the strategic importance of AI in the tech industry. By employing reverse acqui-hires, major players like Google can bolster their innovative capabilities while navigating regulatory landscapes designed to promote competition and prevent monopolies.
