In another twist in the escalating battle for AI dominance, Google has hired Varun Mohan, CEO and co-founder of AI coding startup Windsurf, along with other key members of the company’s research and development team, to join its DeepMind division.

The move, confirmed Friday, deals a heavy blow to OpenAI, which had been in late-stage talks to acquire Windsurf in a deal reportedly worth $3 billion.

Instead of acquiring the company outright, Google opted for a strategic talent acquisition and secured a nonexclusive license to certain Windsurf technologies. This arrangement allows Windsurf to retain its independence and continue licensing its technology to other firms. The startup, now under interim CEO Jeff Wang—its former head of business—will continue to develop its AI coding products for enterprise clients.

“Most of Windsurf’s world-class team will continue to build the Windsurf product with the goal of maximizing its impact in the enterprise,” Wang said in a statement posted on X.

Google’s Deepening Bet on Agentic Coding

The hires are aimed squarely at strengthening Google DeepMind’s capabilities in agentic coding, a fast-emerging area of AI that allows systems to autonomously write, update, and maintain complex software. Google has said these new hires will help further its ambitions with Gemini, its flagship AI model suite that is being integrated across its products and services.

“We’re excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,” a company spokesperson said.

Agentic coding refers to AI systems capable of carrying out entire software development workflows—from design to deployment—without step-by-step human input. It represents a leap forward from current AI assistants that mostly help with code suggestions or document summarization.

OpenAI’s Acquisition Talks Collapse

The Google-Windsurf deal reportedly ended OpenAI’s attempt to buy the startup. According to Reuters and CNBC, OpenAI had been in advanced negotiations to acquire Windsurf earlier this year, eyeing the startup’s unique capabilities and growing popularity in “vibe coding”—a term used to describe modern AI-assisted software development embraced by developers and non-developers alike.

OpenAI had also considered buying another AI coding startup, Cursor, but both bids ultimately fell apart. As Windsurf’s engineering core heads to DeepMind, OpenAI finds itself having missed out on one of the most coveted teams in the AI development tools space.

Founded with a focus on AI-enhanced coding tools, Windsurf quickly gained traction this year with its developer-friendly offerings. The company was gaining popularity in both developer and enterprise circles for its “vibe coding” experience—a form of intuitive, AI-guided code generation that reduces the learning curve for non-programmers while accelerating professional development cycles.

Windsurf’s growing influence had caught the attention of multiple tech giants. The startup reportedly began late-stage talks with OpenAI before being approached by Google. In the end, the allure of DeepMind’s resources and research environment appears to have tipped the scales.

Google’s move mirrors past maneuvers in the AI space. The company previously hired select staff from Character.AI, another AI startup, and has routinely absorbed top talent instead of acquiring entire companies. Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon have similarly pursued aggressive talent grabs. Meta recently onboarded Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang to lead its AI strategy as part of a $14.3 billion investment into Scale.

A Growing Arsenal for Google

The arrival of Varun Mohan and Douglas Chen, Windsurf’s other co-founder, gives Google additional firepower as it ramps up its challenge to Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic in the race to build smarter, more autonomous AI tools for coding and productivity.

Microsoft, which has integrated AI heavily into its development stack through GitHub Copilot and Visual Studio Code, is also pushing agentic features. CEO Satya Nadella said recently that AI now writes 30% of Microsoft’s code. Similarly, Salesforce claims AI handles up to 50% of its engineering tasks.

Windsurf’s remaining team is expected to continue operating independently with a focus on enterprise integrations. The company plans to retain control over its product development while leveraging its nonexclusive licensing agreement with Google to scale selectively.

Google’s Push to Lead AI Market

As generative AI redefines how software is built, companies are scrambling to secure not just the models but the talent capable of pushing the boundaries. Windsurf’s engineers—now embedded at Google DeepMind—are expected to help develop advanced agentic systems that will likely show up in future iterations of Gemini.

By hiring out the core of Windsurf’s brain trust, Google DeepMind doesn’t just gain technology—it also cuts off a promising channel of innovation from reaching rivals like OpenAI or Microsoft. In a market where the difference between success and irrelevance increasingly comes down to who can build the best tools fastest, that’s no small victory.

Bill Gates, the philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, has criticized the Trump administration for what he called “entirely preventable” humanitarian disasters stemming from the abrupt dismantling of U.S. international aid programs.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, Gates urged Washington to reverse course before the fallout becomes irreversible, warning that life-saving interventions are now at risk in vulnerable countries.

“The devastating effects of these cuts are entirely preventable — and it’s not too late to reverse them,” Gates wrote, sharing a post from journalist Sam Stein that included a harrowing message from an aid worker in Africa. According to the worker, vital HIV medications for children had not arrived in months, oxygen tubes for newborns were in short supply, and other essential treatments for sexually transmitted infections were running out.

“These are lives that can be saved,” Gates stressed.

The former tech executive’s criticism follows a series of sweeping changes to U.S. foreign assistance under President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, the Trump administration placed most staff members of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on administrative leave and announced that the agency would be absorbed into the State Department. By June 30, USAID — once a cornerstone of U.S. global engagement — was officially dissolved.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who now oversees foreign assistance programs, has insisted the U.S. is not abandoning its global role.

“Moving forward, our assistance will be targeted and time-limited,” he said, framing the restructuring as part of a pivot from traditional aid toward investment-led development.

But the shift has been widely condemned by humanitarian groups, economists, and even former government officials, who say the cuts have triggered a cascade of avoidable tragedies.

During a visit to Ethiopia last month, Gates addressed the cuts directly, stating: “A lot of cuts are being made in foreign aid programs,” he said during the visit, according to a transcript of the remarks. “Some of those cuts are being made so abruptly that there are complete interruptions in trials, or medicines are still sitting in warehouses and are not available. And these cuts are something that I think are a huge mistake.”

He added that the Gates Foundation, which has invested billions into global health, had long worked alongside USAID on key initiatives.

Among the most affected programs is the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is now under State Department review. The cuts have already halted shipments of antiretrovirals, contraceptives, malnutrition treatments, and routine vaccines in multiple African countries. A report by Wired revealed that therapeutic food for starving children is stockpiled in warehouses, blocked by bureaucratic confusion and funding freezes.

In addition to ending support for PEPFAR, the Trump administration has reportedly withdrawn U.S. backing from Gavi, the international vaccine alliance co-founded by Gates in 1999. The move has alarmed public health officials who fear resurgent outbreaks of polio, measles, and other preventable diseases.

In place of long-standing assistance programs, the administration is offering a new model: trade over aid. The U.S. is actively pursuing bilateral resource-for-investment deals with countries such as Senegal, Mauritania, Gabon, and Liberia. These “minerals-for-security” partnerships are pitched as mutually beneficial, but critics argue they signal a retreat from humanitarian leadership and a pivot toward transactional diplomacy.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, the U.S. has promised security and infrastructure investments in exchange for access to rare earth minerals used in tech manufacturing.

Economists and humanitarian leaders have been vocal in their condemnation. Peter Konyndyk, a former USAID official, warned that dismantling the agency cripples America’s disaster-response capacity and hands strategic leverage to geopolitical rivals like China and Russia. Others point to a broader erosion of U.S. soft power as foreign policy priorities shift toward economic nationalism.

Gates, who last year pledged to give away nearly all his personal wealth within two decades, has been increasingly outspoken on the issue of foreign aid. In May, the Gates Foundation warned that “governments around the world have announced tens of billions of dollars in cuts to aid funding,” with the U.S. leading the trend. The foundation has since redoubled its efforts in Africa, attempting to fill the widening gaps in care and infrastructure.

Trump’s approach to foreign policy — emphasizing self-reliance over assistance — has sparked outrage within global development circles. Critics say the changes could reverse decades of progress in combating infectious diseases, reducing child mortality, and improving access to basic health services. While the White House continues to insist the aid model is outdated, Gates and others argue that the price of inaction will be counted in lives lost.

Goldman Sachs has taken a decisive leap into the future of software development, announcing the deployment of an autonomous artificial intelligence engineer known as Devin, developed by AI startup Cognition, in a move that could reshape how Wall Street firms approach technical operations.

Goldman’s Chief Information Officer Marco Argenti confirmed to CNBC this week that the bank is now actively testing Devin, with plans to initially roll out hundreds of these AI agents to support its 12,000 human engineers—and possibly expand the use to thousands, depending on its success.

“We’re going to start augmenting our workforce with Devin, which is going to be like our new employee who’s going to start doing stuff on the behalf of our developers,” Argenti said.

From Assistants to Agents

Unlike traditional AI assistants that help summarize emails or search databases, Devin represents a new wave of agentic AI—programs that don’t just assist but actually perform multi-step software engineering tasks independently. The AI agent operates as a full-stack developer, capable of writing, debugging, testing, and deploying code with minimal human intervention.

Demo videos from Cognition last year showcased Devin autonomously handling assignments that would typically require a team of human engineers. These include upgrading internal software systems, migrating legacy code, and developing entire applications from scratch.

From Buzz to Buy-In

Just over a year ago, firms like JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley began cautiously introducing OpenAI-powered cognitive tools across their operations. Today, Goldman’s embrace of Devin reflects how fast the frontier has shifted from experimentation to integration.

At Goldman Sachs, Argenti noted that Devin’s productivity potential far exceeds the earlier generation of AI tools, claiming it could boost productivity by up to three or four times compared to previous systems.

“Initially, we will have hundreds of Devins, and that might go into the thousands,” he added, signaling that the firm sees this as a long-term investment in operational efficiency.

Goldman plans to deploy Devin to take over repetitive but essential coding tasks—like updating software to newer programming languages or refactoring legacy systems—allowing human engineers to focus on high-value, strategic innovation.

Wall Street Joins Silicon Valley in the AI Code Race

The adoption of AI coders isn’t unique to Goldman. Big Tech firms like Microsoft and Alphabet have reported that AI tools are already responsible for writing 30% of all code on major projects. At Salesforce, CEO Marc Benioff recently claimed AI now performs up to half of the company’s total work.

But Goldman Sachs’ deployment of Devin is especially symbolic: Wall Street’s most elite investment bank is no longer just investing in AI—it’s hiring it.

Supervised, But Autonomous

Despite its autonomous capabilities, Argenti emphasized that Devin will still operate under human oversight to ensure accuracy and avoid unintended errors.

“We see Devin not as a replacement, but as a multiplier,” said Argenti. “Our developers will now be managing AI counterparts, not competing with them.”

However, the expansion of AI “employees” raises broader questions about the future of work, especially for junior developers and operations staff whose tasks could increasingly be automated.

The move underscores a broader trend in finance and tech: AI is not just a tool—it’s becoming a co-worker.

With Devin, Goldman Sachs isn’t just testing the waters, it’s jumping headfirst into a future where Wall Street coders may be just as likely to review machine-generated code as they are to write it.

If successful, Devin’s rollout could inspire similar deployments across other major financial institutions, hastening the rise of AI-powered enterprise teams—and redefining what it means to “hire” in the age of intelligent machines.