Google signs licensing deal with Character.AI

Startup Character AI disclosed it had recently signed an agreement with Google that grants the search engine giant a non-exclusive license to the chatbot maker’s large language model technology.

The deal, echoing ones struck by Microsoft and Amazon in the past few months, will see Character.AI co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas rejoin Google, where they were formerly employees.

Other deals are being thoroughly inspected by regulators, reflecting growing concern in both the U.S. and Europe about how AI deals are put together by tech giants who are funnelling billions into bolstering their AI infrastructure and hiring the best researchers from startups.

The startup without disclosing the amount said as part of the deal with Google, Character.AI will get more funding. Dominic Perella, Character.AI’s general counsel, will become its interim CEO, effective immediately.

“We’re particularly thrilled to welcome back Noam, a preeminent researcher in machine learning, who is joining Google DeepMind’s research team, along with a small number of his colleagues,” a Google spokesperson said in an email.

In the previous month March, Microsoft paid $650 million to bring on the cofounders and dozens of staff from AI startup Inflection. In June, Amazon hired several cofounders and employees from Adept, another AI startup.

Last year November,  Character.AI  raised $193 million in venture capital from investors including Andreessen Horowitz. It was in talks to raise hundreds of millions from Google,

Inflexion and Adept raised $1.3 billion and $415 million, respectively.

Law firm Sullivan & Cromwell advised Character.AI on the deal.

REUTERS/ Chidimma Gold