Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer says he is leaving Google for OpenAI

Noam Shazeer, a Google engineering vice president and co-lead of Gemini, announced on June 18, 2026 that he will join OpenAI. Reports say he will lead AI architecture research there. The move is a talent loss at the core of Google's main AI model effort, which puts a senior AI research leader at a rival lab.

• Announced June 18, 2026 on X by Shazeer
• Shazeer was a Google engineering vice president and Gemini co-lead
• Destination: OpenAI, reported to be leading AI architecture research