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Transformer Pioneer Shazeer Joins OpenAI Before $852B IPO

6/18/2026

Summary

Shazeer Joins OpenAI

Noam Shazeer, Google vice president, announced on June 17, 2026 that he will join OpenAI.
Google paid roughly $2.7 billion in August 2024 to reacquire Shazeer and co-founder Daniel De Freitas from Character.AI.
Shazeer co-authored the 2017 paper “Attention Is All You Need,” which introduced transformers for modern large language models.
OpenAI, valued at $852 billion, is preparing an IPO in the second half of 2026 after ChatGPT’s share fell below 50%.

Summary

Shazeer Departs

Google paid $2.7 billion in August 2024 for a licensing deal on Character AI technology, not an acquisition.
Noam Shazeer led Character AI as CEO from late 2021 through 2024 before returning to Google.
The licensing agreement was signed in August 2024, the same month Shazeer rejoined Google.
Shazeer announced on X on June 18, 2026 that he would leave Google to join OpenAI.
His LinkedIn profile lists his Google VP of Engineering tenure beginning in August 2024.

History

Historical Context

Founded in 2010 by Demis Hassabis, Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman, DeepMind was bought by Google in January 2014 for about £400 million, later merging with Google Brain in April 2023 to become Google DeepMind. Its AlphaGo victories (2015-2016) set a precedent for high-stakes AI talent moves, exemplified by Shazeer’s June 2026 jump to OpenAI.

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Shazeer Joins OpenAI

Noam Shazeer, Google vice president, announced on June 17, 2026 that he will join OpenAI.
Google paid roughly $2.7 billion in August 2024 to reacquire Shazeer and co-founder Daniel De Freitas from Character.AI.
Shazeer co-authored the 2017 paper “Attention Is All You Need,” which introduced transformers for modern large language models.
OpenAI, valued at $852 billion, is preparing an IPO in the second half of 2026 after ChatGPT’s share fell below 50%.

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