Google's Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer joins OpenAI after two-year return stint
Noam Shazeer, co-author of 'Attention Is All You Need,' just left Google for OpenAI after a 2-year return. That's two landmark AI researcher exits in one year.
Why it matters
Google is losing top-tier model architecture talent to competitors at a critical moment in the AI race. Shazeer's departure—just 2 years after a $2.7B acquisition to bring him back—signals either internal friction at Google or aggressive poaching by OpenAI that suggests shifting momentum in the talent war.
The key facts
6 to knowNoam Shazeer co-authored 'Attention Is All You Need' (foundational transformer paper)
Was co-lead of Google's Gemini models
Returning to Google from Character.AI in 2024 as part of $2.7B deal
Joining OpenAI in 2026 after ~2 years at Google
Second major AI researcher departure from Google in 2026 (following Karpathy to Anthropic)
Represents high-profile poach by OpenAI from direct competitor
Go to the source
The Decoderthe-decoder.com
Publisher excerpt: Noam Shazeer, co-author of the landmark "Attention Is All You Need" paper and former co-lead of Google's Gemini models, is joining OpenAI. He only returned to Google from Character.AI in 2024 as part of a $2.7 billion deal. After Karpathy's move to Anthropic, it's the second major AI hiring…