Sam Altman apparently beat Elon Musk in the fight to win over Noam Shazeer, one of the most consequential figures in modern artificial intelligence.
Shazeer co-invented the transformer architecture in 2017 while working at Google, helping build the foundational technology that makes ChatGPT, Gemini, and basically every large language model on the planet possible.
The most expensive hire in AI history
He left Google in 2021, reportedly frustrated that the company was sitting on breakthrough AI technology instead of shipping products. He then co-founded Character.AI with Daniel De Freitas, a platform known for its interactive AI capabilities that lets users create and chat with AI-powered characters.
In 2024, Google paid approximately $2.7 billion to license Character.AI’s technology, bringing Shazeer back into Google’s fold. His estimated 30-40% ownership stake in Character.AI translated into a personal payout somewhere between $750 million and $1 billion.
