Overview
- Shazeer confirmed in a post on X that he is joining OpenAI, a move reported and confirmed by multiple outlets on Thursday, June 18, 2026, and acknowledged by statements from both OpenAI and Google.
- He co‑authored the 2017 paper 'Attention Is All You Need,' the landmark work that introduced the transformer architecture used by modern large language models.
- Shazeer co‑founded Character.AI, returned to Google in August 2024 under a reported $2.7 billion licensing and talent deal that paid founders an estimated $750 million to $1 billion, and most recently served as Google’s vice president of engineering and a co‑lead of Gemini.
- The hire is being treated as a major talent win for OpenAI ahead of its confidential IPO filing and has drawn public praise from CEO Sam Altman, while also sharpening competition among leading AI labs for elite researchers.
- Observers note reputational and legal questions tied to Shazeer’s Character.AI past because multiple lawsuits alleging user harms, including a wrongful‑death case, were reported settled in early 2026, and the move could influence model research priorities and hiring dynamics across the industry.