@0xLogicrw: Noam Shazeer, Google AI key figure and Gemini model technical lead, leaves Google again and officially joins rival OpenAI. OpenAI announced to employees that Shazeer will focus on finding entirely new underlying architectures for large models and advancing the Transformer...

X AI KOLs Timeline News
google openai noam-shazeer transformer ai-research talent-move gemini

Summary

Noam Shazeer, co-author of the Transformer architecture and technical lead of Google's Gemini model, has left Google again and officially joined OpenAI. He will focus on discovering new underlying architectures for large models and driving research into the evolution of Transformers.

Noam Shazeer, a key figure in Google AI and technical lead for the Gemini model, has left Google again and officially joined rival OpenAI. OpenAI announced to employees that after joining, Shazeer will focus on finding entirely new underlying architectures for large models and driving the evolution of the Transformer architecture. Shazeer is a co-author of Google's foundational 2017 paper "Attention Is All You Need," which introduced the Transformer architecture—the basis for modern generative AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. He joined Google in 2000 and was one of the company's earliest core engineers. In 2021, after Google refused to release the chatbot Meena, which he co-developed with Daniel De Freitas, due to safety and branding concerns, Shazeer left to co-found Character.AI. In August 2024, Google struck a deal with Character.AI worth $2.7 billion for licensing and technology acquisition in an effort to bring Shazeer back. As a founder holding approximately 30% to 40% equity in Character.AI, Shazeer personally cashed out between $750 million and $1 billion. After returning to Google, he served as Vice President and co-technical lead for Gemini, primarily overseeing model pre-training. However, less than two years after Google spent heavily to bring him back, Shazeer has chosen to leave again. Shazeer's move is a significant talent acquisition for OpenAI. Today, large models are approaching the scaling limits of the Transformer architecture's compute power. OpenAI has put the original designer of the Transformer in charge of finding alternatives, aiming to gain an edge in the next generation of large model architectures and compete with Anthropic and Google.
Original Article
View Cached Full Text

Cached at: 06/18/26, 10:13 AM

Google AI key figure and Gemini technical lead Noam Shazeer has left Google again, officially joining rival OpenAI. OpenAI announced to employees that Shazeer will focus on finding entirely new large model architectures and driving the evolution of the Transformer architecture.

Shazeer is a co-author of Google’s seminal 2017 paper Attention Is All You Need, which introduced the Transformer architecture that underpins modern generative AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. He joined Google in 2000 and was one of the company’s earliest core engineers. In 2021, after Google refused to release the chatbot Meena — which he developed with Daniel De Freitas — citing safety and brand concerns, Shazeer left to co-found http://Character.AI.

In August 2024, Google struck a $2.7 billion licensing and technology acquisition deal with http://Character.AI in an effort to bring Shazeer back. As a founder holding roughly 30% to 40% equity in http://Character.AI, Shazeer personally cashed out between $750 million and $1 billion. After returning to Google, he served as Vice President and Co-technical Lead of Gemini, primarily responsible for model pre-training. Yet, less than two years after Google spent heavily to bring him back, Shazeer has chosen to leave again.

Shazeer’s joining is a major win for OpenAI in the talent war. Large models are currently hitting the scaling limits of the Transformer architecture. By putting one of the original designers of the Transformer in charge of finding alternatives, OpenAI aims to gain an edge in next-generation large model architectures and compete against Anthropic and Google.

Noam Shazeer (@NoamShazeer): I’m excited to share that I’ll be joining OpenAI and look forward to working with the exceptional team there.

It was a difficult decision to move on. I’m incredibly proud of the amazing team at Google and everything we’ve built together. It has been an honor and a pleasure to

Similar Articles

Noam Shazeer Joins OpenAI

Hacker News Top

Noam Shazeer, co-lead of Google's Gemini project, has joined OpenAI, marking a significant talent move in the AI industry.

@FuSheng_0306: In an interview with Yao Shunyu, Google's internal strategy is indeed going all out to catch up. Google had been competing with OpenAI on chatbots, and fortunately, Gemini 3 performed well, increasing its market share. However, the rise of Anthropic made Sergey Brin realize that the decisive battle of large models lies in code-writing ability...

X AI KOLs Timeline

The article discusses Google's internal strategic adjustment in the face of competition from OpenAI and Anthropic. Google saw some success with Gemini 3, but realized the decisive battle of large models is in code-writing ability, reflecting the urgency of catching up.