Hot on the heels of a leadership shakeup at Windsurf last week, Cognition announced today it has signed an agreement to acquire Windsurf. The whiplash here explains at least some of last week's turmoil surrounding Google's hiring of top talent at Windsurf.

Windsurf faces acquisition by Cognition AI. This follows a collapsed deal with OpenAI. Google hired Windsurf's CEO Varun Mohan and co-founder Douglas Chen. Google DeepMind also secured a license to Windsurf's tech for $2.

Last Thursday, more than 40 researchers and engineers at Windsurf, a startup that has developed an artificial intelligence–powered coding tool, began gathering at a hotel in Mountain View, Calif., after receiving an invitation to a mysterious meeting from the startup’s management.

Cognition CEO Scott Wu and interim Windsurf CEO Jeff Wang said they would start by integrating the AI-powered engineer Devin into Windsurf

As of Friday, Windsurf’s head of business, Jeff Wang, will take over as the startup’s interim CEO, he announced in a post on social media. Most of Windsurf’s 250 person team is not headed to Google DeepMind and will continue offering its AI coding tools for enterprise customers.

The deal follows Google’s $2.4 billion investment in Windsurf, an A.I. start-up, as companies race to gain technological talent and provide A.I. tools.

OpenAI was set to acquire AI coding startup Windsurf in May for $3 billion, but Microsoft refused to authorize the transaction.

Google DeepMind gains Windsurf’s top AI talent and technology, while OpenAI misses out, reportedly, due to Microsoft.

Alphabet Inc. has finalised a $2.4 billion deal to recruit executives from AI startup Windsurf after negotiations with OpenAI stalled. Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan and others will join Google's DeepMind team.