This upheaval occurs at a critical moment for Google DeepMind. The flagship version of the latest Gemini model has yet to be released despite a scheduled launch in June, raising concerns among investors and industry experts about Google’s ability to compete with rivals Anthropic and OpenAI, both of whom hired notable Google AI personnel this summer.
After the announcement, Alphabet’s shares dropped by 4%.
Hassabis, a Nobel laureate, will take on the new role of chief scientist at Alphabet and transition from CEO of Google DeepMind to its chairman, as stated in a memo sent to the staff. He mentioned that the proximity to achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI) inspired this transition, as AGI represents a sophisticated form of AI where machines exhibit human-like intelligence.
“(Hassabis) and I have had ongoing discussions about a role that allows him to focus entirely on shaping the future of AGI,” said Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s CEO, in a separate memo to all employees. “This work is crucial for both Alphabet and humanity, and I can think of no one better suited than Demis.”
Koray Kavukcuoglu, the chief technology officer of the unit, will take on daily operations. He will now hold the title of senior vice president rather than CEO of the division while continuing his role as Alphabet’s chief AI architect.
Dean, Sanjay Ghemawat, Oriol Vinyals, and Quoc Le—some of the most celebrated figures in Google’s AI and engineering teams—are departing to start a new venture called Discovery Loop, which will focus on breakthroughs in machine learning, science, and engineering. The startup is established as a public benefit corporation.
Alphabet has not disclosed details regarding the motivations behind these changes or their timing.
A previous report by Reuters highlighted that some colleagues of Hassabis believed he prioritized scientific ambitions over financial gains for Google. It is stated that he had aimed for a Nobel Prize as a business goal for DeepMind, even at the expense of initiatives that could have generated new revenue for Alphabet or strengthened its competitive position in the AI landscape. However, supporters within Google dismissed the idea that he overly concentrated on long-term scientific pursuits while neglecting business imperatives.
Senior professionals in Google Cloud, the organization’s primary AI revenue source, welcomed Kavukcuoglu’s appointment as promising news for advancing commercialization strategies, as per an insider.
Kavukcuoglu had been more actively involved than Hassabis in the collaborations between DeepMind and Cloud, and his elevation to the head of the AI lab was anticipated to direct Gemini towards a product-focused approach, according to the source.
Hassabis will investigate research and strategies related to the societal effects of AGI and will have minimal direct reports, an Alphabet representative informed Reuters.
In his memo to employees, Hassabis highlighted the “significant progress” on Google’s AI initiatives, including an unreleased update named Gemini 4.
He also mentioned that he would dedicate more time to Isomorphic Labs, a drug discovery firm that emerged from DeepMind, which he founded and currently leads as CEO.
“I’ve always believed the primary application of AI should be to enhance human health,” he asserted. “It’s time for AI to showcase its undeniable value to the world, and what better way to illustrate that than by assisting in the eventual cure of diseases like cancer?”
BRAIN DRAIN
For many years, Dean and Hassabis were viewed as the leading AI figures at Google, particularly as the field became a focal point for technological advancement.
Hassabis co-founded DeepMind in 2010 and consistently managed the lab from London after it was sold to Google for around $650 million in 2014.
In 2011, Dean co-founded Google Brain, a U.S.-based team that conducted AI research independently from Hassabis’ division. By then, he was already a distinguished figure within Google, noted for his collaboration with Ghemawat on numerous landmark infrastructure projects essential to the company’s operations today.
In 2023, following the unexpected launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Pichai announced the merger of DeepMind and Google Brain into a novel entity named Google DeepMind, with Hassabis as CEO and Dean as chief scientist.
Until recently, Dean, Vinyals, and Noam Shazeer were jointly overseeing the development of Gemini. Under their guidance, Google launched Gemini 3 last November, which was perceived in the industry as closing the gap with leading models from Anthropic and OpenAI.
However, subsequent advancements from these competitors, along with the rise of more affordable Chinese open-source models, have put Google in a defensive position. At Google’s annual developer conference in May, Pichai and other leaders emphasized Gemini’s cost advantages over its advanced capabilities.
Shazeer departed for OpenAI in June, less than two years after Google invested significantly to bring him and a team of his researchers from the startup he had previously led. That same week, senior research scientist John Jumper, who shared a Nobel Prize with Hassabis in 2024, announced his move to Anthropic.
Vinyals, Le, and former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever co-authored a pivotal 2014 research paper that laid the groundwork for contemporary AI research by demonstrating that increasing data to pre-train AI systems could propel them to unprecedented heights.
“Google possesses a vast reservoir of talent, but the exit of these four individuals will leave a lasting impact. Reviving innovation and execution will not be straightforward, and the departure of key contributors complicates the process,” remarked Brian Mulberry, chief market strategist for Zacks Investment Management.
Discovery Loop received funding from Google and has also formed a partnership with its cloud division to secure computing resources.
