Noam Shazeer, Vice President of Engineering and Gemini co-lead at Google DeepMind, announced Wednesday he is leaving to join OpenAI. The move highlights the intensifying competition for top artificial intelligence talent among major technology companies. Shazeer is a prominent figure in the AI sector, known for co-authoring the landmark 2017 paper "Attention Is All You Need," which laid the foundation for modern large language models.

Sharing the news on X, Shazeer wrote, "I'm excited to share that I'll be joining OpenAI and look forward to working with the exceptional team there." He described the decision to move on as difficult and expressed pride in his work at Google. Shazeer's career spans over two decades at Google, a stint as CEO of Character.AI, and a return to lead Gemini development.

Responding to the announcement, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called Shazeer "one of the people I have most wanted to work with since the very beginning of OpenAI," adding that the partnership was "only 10 years" in the making. The hiring follows Liz Wamai joining OpenAI as head of recruiting after more than three years at Netflix Inc., as the company aims to nearly double its workforce to 8,000 from 4,500 by year-end.

Career Trajectory

Shazeer co-founded Character.AI after leaving Google in 2021. The startup later signed a licensing deal with Alphabet Inc. in August 2024. Under that agreement, Shazeer and co-founder Daniel De Freitas rejoined Google DeepMind, where he rose to VP of Engineering and Gemini co-lead.

Key Career Milestones

Shazeer's departure comes just weeks after Alphabet introduced new AI products, including the Gemini 3.5 Flash model and the Gemini Spark AI agent, at its annual I/O developer conference.

OpenAI's net loss widened to about $39 billion in 2025 from $5 billion in 2024, as total spending hit $34 billion, according to audited financial numbers confirmed by sources. The significant expenditure underscores the capital intensity of developing advanced artificial intelligence technologies as the company moves toward a potential initial public offering. The gap between the net loss and the adjusted figure is attributed to a roughly $30 billion non-cash charge related to investor rights accounted for as liabilities prior to restructuring.

In the first quarter of 2026, OpenAI reportedly spent $3.7 billion while generating $5.7 billion in revenue. This spending exceeded half of its revenue for the period, highlighting continued high costs as the company scales operations. Excluding restructuring charges and other non-cash items, the company posted an $8 billion loss for 2025.

Financial Breakdown

The total spending of $34 billion in 2025 included $19 billion for research and development and nearly $6 billion across sales, marketing, and other items. OpenAI said in March it was generating $2 billion in monthly revenue, highlighting the scale of its operations despite the widening losses. The company is reportedly weighing aggressive price cuts that could trigger a pricing war with rival Anthropic to bolster its position in the enterprise market.

OpenAI confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering earlier this month. Reports suggest the company could pursue a valuation of up to $1 trillion and aim for a debut as early as September. The company is also preparing to launch a tender offer soon at the current share price of $687.69, allowing employees and early investors to sell shares. Additionally, OpenAI reportedly projected advertising revenue of $2.5 billion this year, growing to $100 billion by 2030.