At the time, The Verge described this approach as a “reverse acquihire,” where tech giants facing antitrust scrutiny can use hiring and licensing deals to disguise their acquisitions, rather than the other way around.

Covariant, meanwhile, said it will continue operating under the leadership of Ted Stinson and Tianhao Zhang, with Stinson — who’d been the startup’s COO — now stepping into the CEO role. The company added that it remains “dedicated to delivering the Covariant Brain into production environments across a broad set of global industries, including apparel, health and beauty, grocery, and pharmaceuticals.”