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Google spent more than $1.5 billion to acquire Mechanize, rekindling the war in the AI programming track. Google is discussing a potential deal worth more than $1.5 billion with San Francisco startup Mechanize, which involves talent introduction and technology licensing.
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Source: Telegram AI频道
Google spent more than $1.5 billion to acquire Mechanize, rekindling the war in the AI programming track. Google is discussing a potential deal worth more than $1.5 billion with San Francisco startup Mechanize, which involves talent introduction and technology licensing. According to people familiar with the matter, Google may acquire Mechanize’s AI programming technology under a non-exclusive license, and at the same time introduce its core talents to engage in model evaluation and development work. This transaction highlights that programming has become the core and most profitable application scenario in the field of AI, and technology giants are sparing no effort to snatch related talents and technologies. Mechanize was founded last year. CEO Tamay Besiroglu co-founded Epoch AI, which focuses on AI model testing. The company completed US$9.1 million in financing earlier this year, with a valuation of US$500 million. The investor lineup includes former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and well-known podcast host Dwarkesh Patel. Its technology can help technology companies improve the coding performance of AI models, which is a shortcoming that Google currently urgently needs to strengthen - OpenAI's Codex and Anthropic's Claude Code have taken the lead in seizing a large number of developer users. Mixed trading model becomes Google’s usual strategy. This is not the first time that Google has used alternative methods to acquire talents and technology. In recent years, Google has repeatedly adopted a mixed transaction model of "acquisition-style recruitment plus technology licensing", which can not only quickly absorb key talents, but also avoid the antitrust review faced by comprehensive acquisitions. When OpenAI tried to acquire Windsurf last year, Google decisively poached its talents and obtained technology licensing. Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan is now in charge of Google’s intelligent coding platform Antigravity. Similar operations also included the rehiring of Character AI co-founder Noam Shazeer in 2024 and obtaining non-exclusive rights to use its technology, but Shazeer later moved to OpenAI. Mechanize’s ambitions go far beyond programming. Its official website clearly states that the long-term goal is to fully automate all high-value jobs throughout the economy. If the transaction finally lands, Google will gain important chips in the AI programming track