Google's Latest AI Move: Bringing Character.AI Founders Back

Google's Latest AI Move: Bringing Character.AI Founders Back into the Fold

Noam Shazeer, co-founder and CEO of Character.AI, is returning to Google after leaving in October 2021 to found the startup.

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During his previous tenure at Google, Shazeer led the team that developed LaMDA, a language model for conversational AI.

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Daniel De Freitas, the other co-founder, is also joining Google along with some other Character.AI employees.

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Dominic Perella, previously Character.AI's general counsel, is becoming the interim CEO of the startup.

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Most of Character.AI's staff will remain with the company. Google has signed a non-exclusive agreement to use Character.AI's technology.

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Character.AI has raised over $150 million in funding, primarily from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).

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This deal, like similar recent moves by big tech companies, may face scrutiny from regulatory bodies such as the FTC, DoJ, and EU authorities.

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Google specifically mentioned welcoming back Noam Shazeer to join Google DeepMind's research team.

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