Startup Character.AI has entered into an agreement with Alphabet’s Google, granting the tech giant a non-exclusive license to its large language model technology.
This deal, similar to recent agreements made by Microsoft and Amazon, will see Character.AI co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas return to Google, where they were previously employed.
These types of deals are attracting attention from regulators in the US and Europe, who are increasingly concerned about how tech giants are investing billions into AI infrastructure and acquiring top talent from startups.
Funding and Leadership Changes at Character.AI
Character.AI announced it will receive additional funding from Google as part of this agreement, though the amount was not disclosed. Additionally, Dominic Perella, the startup’s general counsel, will assume the role of interim CEO immediately.
A Google spokesperson expressed excitement about the return of Noam Shazeer, a leading researcher in machine learning, who will join Google DeepMind’s research team along with a few of his colleagues.
In March, Microsoft paid $650 million to hire the co-founders and numerous staff from AI startup Inflection. In June, Amazon hired several co-founders and employees from another AI startup, Adept.
Character.AI previously raised $193 million in venture capital from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz. Reuters reported in November that the startup was in discussions to secure additional funding from Google.Inflection and Adept have raised $1.3 billion and $415 million, respectively.