According to a report, Google has re-hired an artificial intelligence expert for $2. 7 billion after he left the company in frustration three years ago to establish his own startup. Noam Shazeer, a 48-year-old software engineer who joined Google as one of its early employees in 2000, departed from the company in 2021 after his request to launch a chatbot he developed with colleague Daniel De Freitas was denied. Following his exit, Shazeer and De Freitas founded Character. AI, which rapidly became a leading AI startup in Silicon Valley, achieving a valuation of $1 billion last year. Last month, it was announced that Shazeer, De Freitas, and select members of Character. AI’s research team would be integrating into Google’s AI division, DeepMind. At that point, Character. AI boasted over 20 million monthly active users. The Wall Street Journal reports that Google paid Character. AI $2. 7 billion for a licensing deal to utilize its technology, allowing Shazeer and his team to join Google. This licensing arrangement, which stops short of a complete acquisition, grants Google immediate access to Character. AI's intellectual property without waiting for regulatory approvals that would have been necessary for a full purchase. Shazeer’s return is largely regarded by Google employees as a central factor in the acquisition of Character. AI, according to the Journal. Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO, was reportedly highly impressed by Shazeer, believing he could develop an AI model with human-level intelligence. During a talk at Stanford University in 2015, Schmidt stated, “If there’s anybody I can think of in the world who’s likely to do it, it’s going to be him. ” In 2017, Shazeer and De Freitas collaborated on a chatbot called Meena that could interact with people on various topics.

Shazeer had such confidence in Meena’s potential that he anticipated it could one day replace Google’s search engine. However, Google executives deemed the release of Meena too risky, citing safety and fairness concerns, as reported by the Journal. In the recent deal, Shazeer, who gained hundreds of millions from the transaction, was appointed as one of three leaders to spearhead the development of Gemini, Google’s next-generation AI model designed to rival products like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Earlier this year, Google temporarily paused Gemini’s image-generating feature due to inaccuracies in its outputs, including "woke" renderings, but later lifted the suspension after addressing the issues. The high cost of bringing Shazeer and De Freitas back reflects the intense competition among Silicon Valley tech companies to attract top talent in the AI field, especially following the release of ChatGPT by OpenAI. Recruitment efforts have become so competitive that CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, have personally appealed to potential hires to join their teams. Brin is reportedly instrumental in convincing Shazeer to make his return to Google, as noted by the Journal. Meanwhile, firms like OpenAI are offering compensation packages worth between $5 million to $10 million to attract top talent, primarily in stock options.