Google has completed a major talent deal involving AI startup Mechanize, bringing much of the company’s team into its DeepMind division.
Tamay Besiroglu, Mechanize’s cofounder and former CEO, is now working as a research scientist at Google DeepMind. More than a dozen other former Mechanize employees have also joined Google, with many reportedly working on midtraining, an important stage in developing advanced AI models.
The companies did not disclose the final financial terms. However, Google had previously been in talks over a deal worth more than $1.5 billion for Mechanize’s technology and talent.
Mechanize develops technology designed to help AI models improve their coding abilities, an increasingly important area of competition among major AI companies.
The deal is another example of Google using talent-focused agreements instead of traditional acquisitions. Such structures can give large tech companies access to valuable teams and technology while potentially attracting less antitrust scrutiny than a full takeover.
Google previously made a similar move with AI coding startup Windsurf, bringing key employees into the company to strengthen its work on AI coding agents.
Mechanize had raised $9.1 million earlier this year at a reported $500 million valuation. The startup was founded with an unusually ambitious mission: building technology capable of eventually automating every job in the global economy.