Noam Shazeer Departs Google for OpenAI in AI Talent Shift

Noam Shazeer, the Google Vice President of Engineering and a central architect behind the Gemini AI models, announced his departure to join OpenAI. His exit arrives less than two years after Google spent $2.7 billion to bring him back into the fold, marking a significant transition in the competitive race for AI supremacy.

Editorial·June 18, 2026·reads: 410

Noam Shazeer Departs Google for OpenAI in AI Talent Shift

Shazeer first joined Google in 2000, eventually becoming a pivotal figure in the evolution of modern artificial intelligence. In 2017, he co-authored the seminal research paper "Attention Is All You Need," which introduced the transformer architecture that now serves as the backbone for industry-leading chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude. Following his initial tenure at Google, he co-founded Character.AI with Daniel de Freitas, creating one of the most successful chatbot startups in the sector. Time magazine recognized his impact by naming him among the 100 most influential people in AI in 2023.

Google secured his return in 2024 through a $2.7 billion licensing deal with Character.AI, a move that reportedly netted Shazeer between $750 million and $1 billion due to his substantial stake in the startup. As Vice President of Engineering, he led the development of Gemini and was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering. His decision to move to OpenAI represents a major shift for the research landscape, as he leaves behind his leadership role at Google to join the team responsible for the development of ChatGPT.