Company paid Google $2.7 billion (about 130.437 billion Egyptian pounds) to return the artificial intelligence expert Noam Shazierwho left the company 3 years ago, after a dispute over a “chat robot” he co-developed, according to a report published by the Wall Street Journal.
Shazier, a 48-year-old software engineer and one of the first employees hired by Google in 2000, left the company in 2021 when Google refused to launch the chatbot he built with colleague Daniel de Freitas.
Shazier de Freitas then co-founded Character.AI, which has become a leading AI startup in Silicon Valley, and was valued at $1 billion last year.
Just last month, Google and Character.AI revealed that Shazier, de Freitas, and some members of the research team at Character.AI would be joining Google’s DeepMind AI unit.
Google presented a $2.7 billion check to Character.AI. The payment was for a license to the Character technology, but the agreement also included a key condition: Noam Shazier would return to work at Google.
The licensing deal gives Google immediate access to Character.AI’s intellectual property, bypassing the need to obtain regulatory approval. According to reports, Google employees see the return of Noam Shazier as the main motivation behind the acquisition of Character.AI.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is said to have been such an admirer of Noam Shazier that he paved the way for him to develop an AI model capable of reaching human level intelligence.
“If there’s anyone in the world who can make it happen, it’s him,” Schmidt said of Shazier in 2015. Two years later, in 2017, Shazier set out to create Meena, a chatbot capable of engaging humans on a variety of topics.
According to the report, Shazier was so confident in MENA’s potential that he expected it to eventually replace Google’s search engine. However, Google’s leadership considered its launch risky, citing concerns about safety and integrity.
According to the report, Noam Shazier, who once criticized Google for being too cautious in developing artificial intelligence, is now one of the three leaders overseeing the creation of the next version of cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology, Gemini. Shazier is said to have made hundreds of millions from his stake in Character.AI as part of the deal.
Read more:
*Did Abu Hanifa permit cohabitation and adultery for a reward? Mabrouk Attia: “The punishment is not imposed in this case.”
*“You will live as long as our master Noah.” Hossam Mowafy reveals a healthy habit before eating (video)
*Half a billion pounds bribe…new details about the “World Cup zero” scandal
