Alphabet has overhauled the leadership of its AI organisation, with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis stepping away from day-to-day management to focus on the company's long-term artificial general intelligence (AGI) ambitions.
The move is accompanied by the departure of several of Google's most influential AI researchers, including veteran engineer Jeff Dean, marking one of the biggest leadership changes since Google combined DeepMind and Google Brain into a single organisation in 2023.
The announcement also comes at a time of intense competition in generative AI, with Google working to strengthen the position of its Gemini family of models.
Hassabis Shifts Focus To Long-Term Ai Research
Hassabis will become Alphabet's newly created Chief Scientist while taking on the role of Chairman of Google DeepMind. The Nobel Prize-winning researcher said the transition will allow him to concentrate on advancing AGI research, broader AI strategy and the societal implications of increasingly capable AI systems.
In a company-wide memo, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said he and Hassabis had discussed creating a role that would let him "put his full attention on actively shaping the future of AGI", describing the work as important both for Alphabet and for society.
Hassabis also said he plans to spend more time with Isomorphic Labs, the AI drug discovery company that spun out of DeepMind and where he continues to serve as CEO.
"I've always believed the No. 1 application of AI should be to improve human health," Hassabis wrote in his memo. "It's time for AI to prove its unequivocal value to the world."
Koray Kavukcuoglu Takes Over Day-To-Day Operations
Google DeepMind Chief Technology Officer Koray Kavukcuoglu will assume responsibility for the organisation's daily operations. Rather than taking the title of CEO, he'll become Senior Vice President of Google DeepMind while continuing to serve as Alphabet's Chief AI Architect.
According to Reuters, Kavukcuoglu has already played a leading role in collaborations between Google DeepMind and Google Cloud. Sources familiar with the company told the news agency that his appointment is expected to strengthen Google's focus on commercialising its AI technologies, particularly the Gemini model family.
The changes effectively separate Google's frontier AI research from the operational leadership responsible for delivering products and services.
Jeff Dean And Other AI Pioneers Launch Discovery Loop
Alongside the leadership reshuffle, Jeff Dean, Sanjay Ghemawat, Oriol Vinyals and Quoc Le are leaving Google to establish a new startup called Discovery Loop.
The company will operate as a public benefit corporation focused on machine learning, science and engineering research. Google has invested in the venture and entered into a cloud partnership that will provide computing infrastructure for its work.
Dean has spent more than two decades at Google and helped build many of the systems that underpin the company's infrastructure. Before Google merged DeepMind and Google Brain, he led the Google Brain research organisation and later became Chief Scientist of Google DeepMind following the 2023 consolidation.
Alphabet hasn't said whether the departures are directly connected to the wider leadership changes or why they occurred simultaneously.
Changes Arrive During A Pivotal Period For Gemini
The reshuffle comes as Google continues to face mounting pressure in the AI race.
Reuters reported that the latest flagship version of Gemini has yet to launch despite originally being expected in June. The company has also seen several high-profile AI researchers leave in recent months, including Noam Shazeer, who joined OpenAI, and Nobel Prize-winning researcher John Jumper, who moved to Anthropic.
At the same time, competitors including OpenAI and Anthropic continue to release increasingly capable frontier models, while Chinese open source AI models have gained momentum across the industry. Investors reacted negatively to the announcement, with Alphabet shares falling around 4 per cent after the leadership changes were revealed.
Despite the transition, Hassabis told employees that Google had made "great progress" on its AI models, including an unreleased upgrade known as Gemini 4. The leadership overhaul leaves Google's AI organisation with a new operational structure while keeping Hassabis closely involved in shaping the company's long-term AI research.
With Gemini remaining central to Google's AI strategy, attention will now turn to how the new leadership team executes on the company's next phase of product development and scientific research.
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