OpenAI Just Hired a Guy Accused of Terrible Things
TL;DR
OpenAI has hired Noam Shazeer, the Character.AI cofounder and recent Gemini co-lead at Google, according to Futurism. Character.AI has faced lawsuits since 2024 in which families link chatbot interactions to mental health crises and suicides involving minors. Futurism points to its earlier investigations into harmful Character.AI bots, including self-harm, eating-disorder, sexualized minor-related and school-shooting content.
Nauti's Take
The story shows the ugly side of the AI talent market: people who can build stronger models stay valuable, even when their previous platform is tied to severe safety allegations. That does not automatically make Shazeer personally responsible for every interaction.
But leadership in companion AI is not a neutral research role. If OpenAI brings him in, it should be able to explain what concrete lessons from Character.
AI will shape product rules, minor safety and escalation systems.
Briefingshow
This is more than another talent move in the AI race. OpenAI gains major model-building expertise, but also imports the reputational weight of a platform whose safety culture is being challenged in courts and in public. The real question is not only who builds the strongest models, but who is accountable when companion chatbots deepen harm for vulnerable users.
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