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

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Bloomberg/Getty Images Google has some fresh talent in the AI race.The tech giant has completed its talent deal with San Francisco startup Mechanize Inc, public postings show.Mechanize's co-founder and ex-CEO, Tamay Besiroglu, now works as a research scientist at Google's AI division, DeepMind, according to his LinkedIn profile. Over a dozen other former Mechanize employees now work at Google, per LinkedIn, mostly on the company's 'midtraining' efforts — a key part of building the best chatbot.Google and Besiroglu declined to comment.Google had been in talks for a $1.5 billion-plus deal for Mechanize's tech and talent, Business Insider previously reported. The final terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Mechanize's former chief of staff, Guive Assadi, now describes himself as its CEO, per LinkedIn.Google has been struggling to release an AI model that's widely viewed as competitive lately. It has used talent deals — which are typically structured to avoid antitrust scrutiny compared to fully fledged acquisitions — to gain an edge. For example, Google snapped up AI coding startup Windsurf's talent last year, with former CEO Varun Mohan now leading Google's agentic coding program Antigravity.Mechanize's technology helps tech companies' AI models improve at coding, a challenge Google has struggled with.Mechanize said earlier this year that it raised $9.1 million in a funding round at a $500 million valuation. Besiroglu previously cofounded Epoch AI, which also focused on testing AI models.Have a tip? Contact Hugh via email at hlangley@businessinsider.com or Signal at 628-228-1836. Contact Charles via email at crollet@businessinsider.com or on Signal and WhatsApp at 628-282-2811. Contact Katie Roof via email at kroof@businessinsider.com or Signal at @kroof.26 Read next Charles Rollet is Business Insider's tech correspondent in San Francisco, where he focuses on breaking major news about the AI industry. In 2025, he led an investigation which revealed that Scale AI had inadvertently exposed confidential data about its workers and clients. In 2026, he was the first to break the news that Meta had halted a controversial keystroke tracking program.Prior to joining BI, Charles worked at TechCrunch covering startups and VC in San Francisco. Before that, he was based in Southeast Asia for a decade, where his work won a Gerald Loeb award and was nominated for a Society of Publishers in Asia award. His reporting on the surveillance industry led to US human rights sanctions on five Chinese security camera manufacturers.Charles is especially interested in how frontier AI models are built and trained. He has a master's degree in business reporting from NYU and a bachelor's degree in history from Northwestern.You can contact Charles securely on Signal at charlesrollet.12 or +1-628-282-2811. Charles keeps sources anonymous. Please use a non-work device to reach out. Hugh is a senior correspondent at Business Insider where he writes about Google, tech, and wealth. His work has been cited by The New York Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, and other outlets.Get an alert whenever I publish a story.Got a tip? You can reach him using the secure messaging app Signal (hughlangley.01) or email (hlangley@businessinsider.com). We can keep sources anonymous. Exclusive Startups AI More Entrepreneurship Google Innovation Artificial Intelligence Big Tech