Google has hired the founders of chatbot maker Character.AI and struck a deal to license its models, the latest in a series of deals in which Big Tech companies have scooped up teams and technology from promising start-ups.
Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, who co-founded Character.AI in 2022, will join Google along with a number of other staff from the start-up. Shazeer, who has had two previous stints at Google, will join its AI research division, DeepMind, which develops large language models and the Gemini suite of AI products such as chatbots.
”I am confident that the funds from the non-exclusive Google licensing agreement together with the incredible Character.AI team positions Character.AI for continued success in the future,” said Shazeer.