Google rehires Noam Shazeer through a $2.7B reverse acquire, strengthening its AI capabilities to compete with industry giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and more

Google reportedly paid an eye-popping $2.7 billion to lure back a former employee who quit three years ago when the search giant refused to release the chatbot he had developed.

Google recently paid $2.7 billion to rehire 48-year-old AI expert Noam Shazeer, an industry pioneer and co-founder of Character.AI.

Noam Shazeer, a pioneering AI engineer and early Google employee (2000), has re-joined the tech giant after parting ways. This homecoming comes with a hefty price tag of $2.7 billion. AI Genius Noam Shazeer Shazeer's departure in 2021 stemmed from Google's hesitance to release a chatbot he co-developed with Daniel De Freitas.

The acquisition involved purchasing stakes from Character.AI’s investors and employees, leading to a substantial payout for Shazeer, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.