Character.AI’s co-founders, Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, are joining Google as part of a deal allowing Google to license the startup’s technology. This agreement, reported by Rachel Metz and Julia Love for Bloomberg, involves Shazeer, De Freitas, and some research team members transitioning to Google, while Dominic Perella, previously Character.AI’s general counsel, becomes the interim CEO.
Character.AI, known for creating chatbots that can mimic various personas, announced the news in a blog post. The startup’s investors will see their shares bought out at a valuation of $2.5 billion, a significant increase from its earlier $1 billion valuation, although still short of the $5 billion discussed in early investor talks last year.
The Menlo Park-based startup will enter a non-exclusive licensing deal with Google for its large language model technology while continuing to operate independently. Most of its team will remain to develop the Character.AI product and serve its user base.
This move follows a trend where AI startup founders join larger tech companies amid an increasing demand for AI talent and technology. In recent months, Microsoft and Amazon have similarly hired key personnel from AI startups Inflection AI and Adept AI Labs, respectively.
For Shazeer and De Freitas, joining Google marks a return, as both previously worked there. Shazeer notably co-authored a seminal paper on generative AI during his time at Google. The move comes after Google’s efforts to regain its position in AI following the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which spurred significant internal changes at Google, including forming Google DeepMind.
Shazeer expressed enthusiasm about rejoining Google and contributing to the DeepMind team, highlighting his pride in Character.AI’s achievements over the past three years.
