Google has paid $2.7 billion to rehire AI expert Noam Shazeer, as part of a deal to license technology from Character.AI, the startup he co-founded after leaving Google. Shazeer, who was instrumental in developing key AI breakthroughs, left the company in 2021 due to disagreements over releasing a chatbot he created. Character.AI specializes in creating chatbots that mimic the conversational style of various personalities.

Shazeer will now lead efforts on Google’s next-generation AI model, Gemini, in a bid to compete with rivals like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This move underscores the fierce competition for AI talent and innovation in the tech industry.

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