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AI avatar firm Character AI is getting shut with Google. The startup at this time introduced in a weblog put up that it’s going to license its giant language mannequin (LLM) tech to Google in trade for “increased funding for Character.AI to continue growing and to focus on building personalized AI products for users around the world.”
As well as, Character AI’s founding group, Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, together with some members of its analysis group, will be part of Google. The corporate mentioned most of its workers will stay at Character AI, whereas its common counsel, Dominic Perella, will develop into interim chief government officer.
“As we enter this next phase of growth, we will continue to invest in our post-training capabilities, with the flexibility to use our own or externally available LLMs. We are excited for the future of Character.AI and are committed to serving our users through innovative new products,” the corporate mentioned within the weblog put up.
What’s Character AI?
Character AI, based in 2022, permits individuals to create AI avatars of themselves or different characters. The corporate reached a valuation of $1 billion in March 2023 after a $150 million funding spherical led by Andreessen Horowitz.
The corporate beforehand constructed its personal fashions, selecting a full stack strategy of pre-training, coaching and deployment to create AI avatars.
Nevertheless it mentioned in its weblog put up that “the landscape has shifted” up to now few years the place extra off-the-shelf, pre-trained fashions are available. By leveraging Google’s LLMs, Character AI mentioned it may deal with post-training fashions and creating new merchandise for its customers.
Certainly, earlier this week, Meta was reported to be discontinuing its celeb AI chatbots that had been extensively seen as rivals to Character AI after apparently low consumer uptake and engagement.
Google informed VentureBeat that Shazeer, a former software program engineer at Google, will be part of the DeepMind group.
“I am super excited to return to Google and work as part of the Google DeepMind team. I am so proud of everything we built at Character.AI over the last three years,” Shazeer mentioned in an e mail to VentureBeat. “I am confident that the funds from the non-exclusive Google licensing agreement, together with the incredible Character.AI team, position Character.AI for continued success in the future.”
One other deal within the AI house
Google and Character AI didn’t present extra particulars in regards to the deal, nor did both firm affirm whether or not the settlement may very well be thought of an acquisition.
Different massive tech corporations have basically purchased corporations by way of “acquihiring,” when the chief group and huge swathes of a startup are employed by an enormous firm. Sources near the deal informed VentureBeat it was not an aquisition nor an acqui-hire
For instance, Microsoft employed the co-founders of AI startup Inflection which many imagine is a strategy to keep away from regulatory issues round an acquisition.
This isn’t the primary time Character AI has been concerned in potential takeover talks. The Info reported that Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI thought of shopping for Character AI, although Musk later denied the report on his social community, X (previously Twitter).
