Gemini’s co-lead is leaving Google to join OpenAI

Ben Schoon | Jun 17 2026 - 6:45 pm PT

VP of engineering at Google and the co-lead of Gemini, Noam Shazeer, has announced he is departing his role to work at OpenAI.

Noam Shazeer announced in a post on Twitter/X this evening that he would be departing Google to join OpenAI. His new role wasn’t mentioned in the post, but it’s a major change seeing as Shazeer is a co-lead over Gemini and a VP of Engineering at Google, a role he’s been at since August of 2024 according Shazeer’s LinkedIn profile.

I’m excited to share that I’ll be joining OpenAI and look forward to working with the exceptional team there.

It was a difficult decision to move on. I’m incredibly proud of the amazing team at Google and everything we’ve built together. It has been an honor and a pleasure to…
— Noam Shazeer (@NoamShazeer) June 18, 2026

Prior to his work as a Gemini co-lead, Shazeer worked as a software engineer from 2000 through 2021, acting as the CEO of Character.ai from late 2021 through 2024 when he returned to Google. A licensing deal between Google and Character.ai was made that same month.

Speaking to Reuters, Google said that the company is “grateful for Noam’s meaningful contributions to Google over the years.”

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