OpenAIs acquiration of Windsurf fails, bosses and developers move to Google
After OpenAI failed to acquire their previous employer Windsurf, some employees are now joining Google's DeepMind team.
(Image: Primakov/Shutterstock)
As the takeover of the artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Windsurf by the ChatGPT manufacturer OpenAI has failed, some developers and managers from Windsurf (formerly Codeium) are now apparently moving to Google's AI department, DeepMind. These are Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen and some employees from the research and development department. Windsurf announced this in a blog post on Friday.
The current Windsurf employees are to work on Google's Gemini AI models. According to Google, the recruits will primarily focus on "agentic coding". The tech portal TheVerge and the news agency Reuters are both reporting this. This involves AI agents taking on programming tasks independently, working as autonomously as possible towards a predefined goal instead of just assisting human developers with subtasks. Google is paying Windsurf 2.4 billion US dollars in license fees as part of an agreement to be able to use certain of the start-up's technologies on a non-exclusive basis, reports Reuters, citing an anonymous source. However, Google will not acquire any shares in Windsurf and will not exercise any control rights.
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Jeff Wang, previously Head of Business at Windsurf, is now to become Mohan's interim successor. Wang has been with Windsurf since mid-2023 and has held various positions here. OpenAI had previously tried to acquire Windsurf for three billion US dollars but eventually failed to strike a deal. OpenAI did not want Microsoft, as OpenAI's largest financial backer, to automatically gain access to Windsurf's technologies.
Windsurf develops software that enables developers to write code using natural language. OpenAI competitors such as GitHub (Copilot), Anthropic and Anysphere (Cursor) are strongly represented in this market segment.
The text originally stated that OpenAI's acquisition of Windsurf had been completed. However, after lengthy discussions, the deal fell through. We apologize for the error and have corrected the text where necessary.
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