Google's AI Lab Nearly Acquired by Zuckerberg, Thwarted by a Dinner

Google has a special laboratory for developing artificial intelligence (AI) technology in-house. That AI lab is DeepMind. DeepMind was formerly a British startup, which was later acquired by Google in 2014. However, before being bought by Google, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was also reportedly interested in acquiring DeepMind. Acquisition discussions took place, but they failed due to a decisive dinner. This was revealed by DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, who now serves as CEO of Google DeepMind. However, Hassabis and DeepMind’s other co-founder, Mustafa Suleyman, were still not entirely satisfied. They kept the door open, hoping for a more suitable company and a better deal. One of the other candidates was Facebook, which at the time had not yet changed its name to Meta. At that time, the AI competition had already begun, though not as intense as it is today. Zuckerberg reportedly knew that his competitors were already preparing to develop AI. He made a strong effort to catch up on that lag. One of his efforts was to approach AI researchers personally, including Suleyman. He even flew to California to meet Amin Zoufonoun, who was Head of Corporate Development at Facebook. They met at Zoufonoun’s residence. According to reports, Facebook offered a low price for DeepMind shares. However, they promised compensation to the founders and their colleagues with the lure of large bonuses that could make them even richer, compared to accepting Google’s offer. That offer was initially considered attractive to Suleyman. However, he was quite concerned about AI governance and security, which Zoufonoun simply ignored. After the meeting and hearing Facebook’s offer, Suleyman reported it to Hassabis. Not long after, Suleyman had lunch with Larry Page.