OpenAIβs deal to accumulate the viral AI coding startup Windsurf fell aside on Friday, in keeping with The Verge.
In a stunning twist, Google DeepMind is now hiring Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and a few of the startupβs prime AI coding expertise. A Google spokesperson confirmed the hiring of Windsurfβs leaders in an announcement to Trendster.
βWeβre excited to welcome some prime AI coding expertise from Windsurfβs workforce to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,β mentioned Google spokesperson Chris Pappas in an electronic mail to Trendster.
Notably, Google is just not taking a stake in Windsurf and won’t have any management over the corporate. Nevertheless, as a part of the deal, Google could have a nonexclusive license to sure Windsurf know-how, although the AI coding startup stays free to license its know-how to others.
The deal represents the AI ecosystemβs newest reverse-acquihire, wherein an organization acquires a startupβs prime expertise and licenses its know-how however doesn’t outright purchase the corporate. Google beforehand performed an identical deal to rent again Character.AI CEO Noam Shazeer, as did Microsoft to rent Mustafa Suleyman. These offers have helped a number of large tech firms improve their place within the AI race with out drawing regulatory scrutiny.
βWe’re excited to be becoming a member of Google DeepMind together with a few of the Windsurf workforce,β mentioned Mohan and Chen in an announcement to Trendster. βWe’re pleased with what Windsurf has constructed over the past 4 years and are excited to see it transfer ahead with their world class workforce and kick-start the subsequent section.β
As of Friday, Windsurfβs head of enterprise, Jeff Wang, will take over because the startupβs interim CEO, he introduced in a submit on social media. Most of Windsurfβs 250 individual workforce is just not headed to Google DeepMind and can proceed providing its AI coding instruments for enterprise prospects.
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