OpenAI’s deal to acquire the viral AI coding startup Windsurf fell apart on Friday, according to The Verge.
In a shocking twist, Google DeepMind is now hiring Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and some of the startup’s top AI coding talent. A Google spokesperson confirmed the hiring of Windsurf’s leaders in a statement to TechCrunch.
“We’re excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,” said Google spokesperson Chris Pappas in an email to TechCrunch.
Notably, Google is not taking a stake in Windsurf and will not have any control over the company. However, as part of the deal, Google will have a nonexclusive license to certain Windsurf technology, though the AI coding startup remains free to license its technology to others.
The deal represents the AI ecosystem’s latest reverse-acquihire, in which a company acquires a startup’s top talent and licenses its technology but does not outright acquire the company. Google previously conducted a similar deal to hire back Character.AI CEO Noam Shazeer, as did Microsoft to hire Mustafa Suleyman. These deals have helped several big tech companies increase their position in the AI race without drawing regulatory scrutiny.
“We are excited to be joining Google DeepMind along with some of the Windsurf team,” said Mohan and Chen in a statement to TechCrunch. “We are proud of what Windsurf has built over the last four years and are excited to see it move forward with their world class team and kick-start the next phase.”
As of Friday, Windsurf’s head of business, Jeff Wang, will take over as the startup’s interim CEO, he announced in a post on social media. Most of Windsurf’s 250 person team is not headed to Google DeepMind and will continue offering its AI coding tools for enterprise customers.
This story is developing …
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