Charter CEO.AI Noam Shazeer Returns To Work On Google

Charter CEO.AI Noam Shazeer (photo: X @character.ai)

JAKARTA Noam Shazeer, an important figure who pioneered the creation of the Language Model for the Dialogue App (LaMDA), has long left Google. However, now Shazeer has returned to the company.

Shazeer left Google in October 2021 to set up a chatbot startup called Character.AI which is supported by a16z. Although still on Character.AI, Shazeer is back working with Google due to a collaboration agreement.

According to a TechCrunch report, Google signed a non-exclusive agreement to use Character.AI technology. Through this agreement, Daniel De Freitas, who co-founder of Charter.AI, will join Google.

There are several Character.AI employees who have been part of Google for a while, such as Freitas and Shazeer. However, it did not explain how many employees were brought by the two startup leaders.

As long as Shazeer and Freitas leave the company, Character.AI General Advisor Dominic Perella will be the interim CEO at the startup. It is not yet known how long Shazeer and Freitas will be leaving Charter.AI.

Google explained that Shazeer will join the DeepMind research team, while Freitas' position on Google has not been revealed. It seems that Freitas, including Character employees, will help Google in areas related to Artificial Intelligence (AI).

"This agreement will provide increased funding for Charter.AI to continue to grow and focus on making personalized AI products for users around the world," a Google spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Shazeer revealed that he was happy to be back working with Google. With the collaboration between Google and Character.AI, Shazeer believes his company can achieve sustainable success in the future.

"I believe that the funds from Google's non-exclusive license agreement, together with the Extraordinary Character.AI team, will position Character.AI for sustainable success," said Shazeer.