As Google completes $1.5 billion-plus deal for AI startup Mechanize, its co-founder joins company as research scientist
Google had previously been reported to be in talks for a deal worth more than $1.5 billion for Mechanize’s technology and talent.
Google has completed its deal with San Francisco-based AI startup Mechanize, bringing the startup’s co-founder and former CEO Tamay Besiroglu into Google DeepMind as a research scientist, according to public postings. More than a dozen other former Mechanize employees have also joined Google, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Many of them are now working on Google’s “midtraining” efforts, an important part of developing and improving AI models. He now lists himself as a research scientist at Google’s AI division, DeepMind, according to a Business Insider report. Mechanize’s former chief of staff, Guive Assadi, now describes himself as the company’s CEO, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The move gives Google fresh AI talent as the company continues to compete in the fast-moving artificial intelligence race. Besiroglu co-founded Mechanize, an AI startup focused on helping companies improve the coding abilities of their AI models. The final terms of the deal have not been disclosed.