# Google Acquires Character.AI Cofounders, Licenses AI Models in Strategic AI Expansion 🤖

**URL:** <https://onehack.st/t/google-acquires-character-ai-cofounders-licenses-ai-models-in-strategic-ai-expansion/288231>\
**Category:** News & Articles\
**Tags:** business\
**Created:** [August 3, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/google-acquires-character-ai-cofounders-licenses-ai-models-in-strategic-ai-expansion/288231 "2024-08-03T18:11:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TheJoker](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/thejoker/32/22660_2.png) [@TheJoker](https://onehack.st/u/TheJoker)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/google-acquires-character-ai-cofounders-licenses-ai-models-in-strategic-ai-expansion/288231/1 "2024-08-03T18:11:16Z")

</div>

**Summary:**

1. **Strategic Licensing and Acquisition** : Google has entered into an agreement with Character.AI to pay a licensing fee for its AI models. The deal includes hiring Character.AI’s cofounders and many of its researchers, integrating them into Google’s Gemini AI team.

2. **Valuation and Investor Buyout** : The agreement involves buying out Character.AI’s investors at about $88 per share, valuing the company at roughly 2.5 times its 2023 Series A valuation of $1 billion.

3. **Shift to Open-Source Models** : Following the deal, Character.AI will transition to using open-source models like Meta Platforms’ Llama 3.1 for its products, moving away from its proprietary models.

[Read more at The Verge](https://www.theverge.com)