Noam Shazeer, Google‘s vice president of engineering and co-lead of the Gemini AI models, announced his departure from Google to join OpenAI in a significant talent shift in the AI industry. Shazeer, who is the co-author of the landmark 2017 paper “Attention Is All You Need” that introduced the Transformer architecture underlying modern AI systems, will assume a leadership research position at OpenAI.

Shazeer’s move comes less than two years after Google brought him back to its DeepMind unit in August 2024, reportedly paying $2.7 billion to secure his return. The investment apparently failed to retain one of the industry’s most influential researchers, as he opted for the competitive environment and trajectory at OpenAI.

His departure represents another high-profile loss for Google in the competitive talent market for AI researchers and engineers. The move underscores ongoing struggles by large technology companies to retain top talent despite substantial compensation packages.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly welcomed Shazeer, writing that he is “one of the people I have most wanted to work with since the very beginning of openai.” The endorsement highlights the strategic importance of securing researchers with Shazeer’s foundational contributions to modern AI architecture.

Shazeer’s transition to OpenAI positions him to directly influence the development of GPT models and architecture research. His expertise in Transformer design and large language models makes him a valuable addition to OpenAI’s technical leadership.