Noam Shazeer, Vice President of Engineering at Google and co-lead of the Gemini project, announced he will leave Google to join OpenAI. He shared this news in a post on Twitter/X.
Shazeer’s new role at OpenAI was not disclosed in his announcement. His departure marks a significant transition, as he has held the position of co-lead on Gemini since its inception and has been with Google since August 2024.
Before leading Gemini, Shazeer worked as a software engineer from 2000 to 2021. He served as CEO of Character.ai from late 2021 until 2024, before returning to Google. In the same month he resumed his role at Google, a licensing deal was established between the company and Character.ai.
In a statement to Reuters, Google expressed gratitude for Shazeer’s contributions, noting his meaningful impact during his tenure.
