In today’s world of AI, Noam Shazeer is a big name; specifically, he is known for being the co-founder of Character.ai.
Indeed, Shazeer co-founded a platform that enables users to engage with AI chatbots designed after real and fictional characters, partnering with Daniel De Freitas.
Highlights
- Noam Shazeer plays in millions as the co-founder of the billions-worth company Character.AI.
- Shazeer previously left Google after the tech giant didn’t show interest in his chatbot idea.
- He will work alongside Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals on Google’s Gemini project.
To put it simply, Shazeer is a distinguished American computer scientist and entrepreneur. His popularity is at its peak after recent news about him popping up everywhere.
Talking about the news, Shazeer has been rehired by Google, which reportedly paid $2.7 billion to license technology from Character.AI.
Yes, Google’s investment in Shazeer’s company technology amounted to billions.
This prompts curiosity about how much he profited from this deal and what his earnings are going to be in his new position at the tech giant.
Noam Shazeer’s Net Worth Boost As He Earns Millions From Google Licensing His Company’s Technology For Billions
Noam Shazeer is raking in millions as Google buys the rights to use technology from his company, Character.ai. Talking about his firm, it is now valued at over the billions.
Shazeer’s bank account is growing, that’s for sure, but the exact numbers of the deal are under wraps.
Even though the fine print is hush-hush, without a doubt, Google is cutting Shazeer a fat check for his new job at the tech giant.
Speaking of Character.AI, which Shazier helped start in 2021, has taken off like a rocket.Â
https://t.co/hiDhSuNb8f @character_ai CEO Noam Shazeer joins The Exchange to discuss monetization of his AI startup and what is next. The generative AI tool allows users to interact with characters – real or fictional.#characterai #ai #cnbc pic.twitter.com/Lup1qmfA75
— The Exchange (@CNBCTheExchange) May 11, 2023
After getting $150 million from investors, the company hit a $1 billion price tag earlier in 2023.
However, in a year the number has grown substantially. Word on the street is that the company might now be worth between $5 billion and $10 billion.
Given all this, it’s a good bet that Shazeer, one of the founders, has a net worth of about $45 million.Â
No one outside the deal knows the exact profits everyone made from Google’s deal with Character.AI. However, Shazeer’s role in the billion-dollar tech company makes him much richer.
What’s more, Character.AI’s sky-high valuation makes Shazeer an even bigger player in the tech scene.
Noam Shazeer And His Two Co-Leaders Oversee The Gemini AI Project
Noam Shazeer leads Google’s big Gemini AI project with two others. His company’s recent deal with Google included him working for the tech giant.
However, it isn’t his first rodeo at Google; it’s a comeback. He returned to the tech giant after leaving in 2021 when Google said no to launching a chatbot he made.
Unhappy with Google’s care about AI, Shazeer helped start Character.AI, which is now worth over $5 billion. So, his return to the tech giant is a huge achievement for the AI pioneer.
Obviously, Google brought him back because he knows a lot about AI, as the company now wants to take big steps in this field.
After TWO DECADES at Google, Noam Shazeer (@NoamShazeer) left G in late 2021 and founded @character_ai with his friend @dan_defr… they’ve raised nearly $200 million so far and are ALMOST a unicorn… and pretty damn capital efficient so far with only 20 ~ employees. 🦄 😅 pic.twitter.com/4PXuH5QPWD
— JJ (@JosephJacks_) April 15, 2023
Before he left Google, Shazeer had a great career, becoming a principal software engineer after working there for many years.
With Google’s new deal, Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals, both big names in AI, work with Shazeer to lead the Gemini project.
Talking about the number, no one knows how much Shazeer gets paid in this job, but people won’t be wrong to think it’s in the millions.
For instance, one of the three co-leaders, Dean, was noted as one of the highest-paid software engineers at Google two years ago.
Moreover, he was said to make over $3 million a year, and many thought the real number was even higher.
With that in mind and because the Gemini project is so big and important, Google will be paying Shazeer a lot, showing how much the tech giant values his return to the company.
Additional Information
- Noam Shazeer maintains a low profile, but it is known that he owns a home in Palo Alto, California.
- Shazeer was born in Philadelphia in 1976 to a multilingual math teacher who became an engineer and a full-time mother.
- The AI pioneer’s grandfather fled the Nazi Holocaust, finding refuge in the former Soviet Union.