Google Paid $2.7B For Him: Noam Shazeer Leaves for OpenAI

Noam Shazeer, the Israeli engineer who helped lead Google’s Gemini models, is leaving Google for OpenAI, according to Reuters.

The move marks one of the most striking talent shifts in the global artificial intelligence race. It also comes less than two years after Google brought him back from Character.AI.

A Costly Return

Shazeer’s story began years earlier inside Google. In 2020, he helped develop Meena, an AI chatbot that he believed could change search and generate enormous value. However, Google chose not to release the product because of safety and reputation concerns.

Instead, Shazeer left Google and helped build Character.AI, a startup that became a major symbol of the new AI boom.

By 2024, Google had moved to bring him back through a reported $2.7 billion Character.AI deal. At the time, Reuters reported that Google appointed Shazeer as a technical lead on Gemini, alongside Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals.

From Google to OpenAI

This week, Shazeer stunned the tech world again. He announced: “I am leaving Google and moving to its major competitor, Sam Altman’s OpenAI.”

For Google, the move highlights how intense the AI talent war has become. Meanwhile, OpenAI gains one of the field’s most influential engineers.

At the same time, for many Israelis and Jews watching the story, Shazeer’s rise is another reminder that Jewish and Israeli minds continue to shape science, technology, and human knowledge.

Wisdom and Responsibility

Shazeer, 50, is an Orthodox Jew who wears a kippah. He lives in California with his wife, Yael, and their three children. In addition, he carefully protects his privacy and rarely gives interviews.

His story also speaks to shared American and Israeli values: bold innovation, free competition, moral responsibility, and the belief that knowledge should serve civilization.

The Tanakh describes Bezalel as filled “with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge” to build what Israel needed (Exodus 35:31).

Shazeer’s path reflects that same ancient Jewish respect for skill, vision, and purposeful creation.