Google just completed its $1.5 billion-plus talent deal for AI startup Mechanize

Google has completed a talent deal with San Francisco startup Mechanize Inc., bringing former CEO Tamay Besiroglu and over a dozen other employees to Google. Besiroglu now works as a research scientist at Google's AI division, DeepMind, according to his LinkedIn profile. Most of the former Mechanize employees are working on Google's 'midtraining' efforts, a key part of building chatbots. Google had been in talks for a $1.5 billion-plus deal for Mechanize's tech and talent, though final terms were not disclosed.

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