Noam Shazeer, Google's VP of engineering and co-lead of Gemini AI models, announced he is leaving for OpenAI. This underscores the intense battle for top AI talent.
Noam Shazeer, Google's vice president of engineering and co-lead of its Gemini AI models, announced on X (Twitter) on May 21, 2025, that he is leaving Google to join OpenAI. He expressed excitement about working with OpenAI's team and pride in his work at Google.
Shazeer left Google in 2021 after the company declined to aggressively pursue a chatbot project he championed, co-founding AI startup Character.AI with fellow researcher Daniel De Freitas. In August 2024, Google brought them back to its DeepMind unit as part of a partnership with Character.AI. This departure comes weeks after Google unveiled new AI products at its I/O conference, and as OpenAI has confidentially filed for an IPO.
This move highlights the intense competition for top AI talent. The loss of a key researcher could create a gap in Google's AI research capabilities, while OpenAI gains a strong asset to bolster its technological edge.