Noam Shazeer, who serves as a vice president of engineering at Google and was a co-lead on the company's Gemini artificial intelligence models, announced Wednesday that he will leave Google to take a position at OpenAI.
In a social media statement, Shazeer confirmed his departure but did not provide details on when he will make the move. The announcement arrives against a backdrop of intense competition among leading AI companies to recruit engineering and research talent to strengthen their advanced model development.
The personnel change also coincides with OpenAI's preparations for an initial public offering later this year. The combination of aggressive hiring across the sector and OpenAI's planned public offering has contributed to heightened attention on senior staff movements.
Shazeer returned to Google's AI efforts less than two years ago after the company paid $2.7 billion to bring him and a team of his researchers from startup Character.AI. After rejoining Google, he was selected in 2024 to co-lead development of the Gemini model family. Observers credited him as an important contributor in efforts that helped Gemini reduce the performance gap with OpenAI's ChatGPT.
The publicly disclosed elements in Shazeer's statement are limited to his decision to join OpenAI and his lack of a specified start date. No additional commentary on contractual arrangements, team transitions, or product road maps was provided in the announcement.
Context and implications
- Shazeer's move underscores active competition among top AI firms to secure experienced researchers and engineers to advance model capabilities.
- The transition occurs as OpenAI advances toward a planned IPO later this year, a development that has concentrated market and industry attention.
- Shazeer's return to Google less than two years ago followed a $2.7 billion payment that brought him and his research team from Character.AI into Google's AI programs.
Beyond the facts Shazeer released, details remain scarce. The timing of his start at OpenAI and any operational impacts on Google's Gemini program were not specified in his statement.