OpenAI hired former Google employees to build ChatGPT

In the months leading up to the release of ChatGPT, OpenAI hired at least five Google AI engineers who played a key role in developing the chatbot. The Information reports.

According to the publication, the startup continues to hire former employees of the tech giant.

In January, a researcher who helped develop a type of machine-learning model for Google’s search engine joined the AI lab. Later, OpenAI integrated a similar algorithm into ChatGPT.

In the past few weeks, the startup hired at least four more employees from the company’s Brain division.

OpenAI listed the names of the former Google engineers in a publication about the launch of ChatGPT.

According to information from LinkedIn profiles, since September 2022 at least six Brain division and DeepMind AI Lab staff have moved to OpenAI.

One of them was Jacob Devlin, who helped develop the BERT language model. Another, Alexander Passos, was a senior engineer in Brain.

Sources suggested that the departure of Google engineers was linked to excessive bureaucracy within the company.

According to one former Brain engineer, AI-division managers deprived some teams of resources for training language models.

A current company employee noted that attempts to roll out a new AI product typically encounter numerous bureaucratic obstacles.

In 2022, Google engineers had to request access to AI image generators to prevent “misuse”. According to one employee, they were required to sign a waiver releasing the tech giant from liability for content generated by the system.

Sources said that since the end of 2022, requirements for Brain engineers rose and workloads increased. However, due to rising competition, management began to concede compromises to accelerate the release of AI solutions.

According to the publication, in early February during an investor call, Google CEO Sundar Pichai pledged to integrate AI into all products, including Search and Gmail.

In November 2022, OpenAI released the ChatGPT chatbot.

In January 2023, Microsoft signed a multi-billion-dollar deal with OpenAI. The tech giant integrated the chatbot into its search engine Bing.

In February, Google opened access to the conversational AI service Bard to a limited number of testers.