Google’s parent company, Alphabet, announced a leadership shakeup in its AI division on Wednesday. Demis Hassabis, the head of AI, is stepping down from his primary managerial role and will transition to the position of chief scientist at Alphabet. Several key leaders involved with the Gemini model, including seasoned engineer Jeff Dean, are also leaving the company.
This internal restructuring occurs at a critical moment for Google DeepMind. The debut of its latest Gemini model hasn’t happened yet, despite an initial planned release in June. This delay has raised alarms among investors and industry experts, who worry Google may be losing ground to competitors like Anthropic and OpenAI, both of which have recruited top Google AI talent this summer.
Hassabis, who has received a Nobel Prize, will focus more on broader research and societal impacts of artificial general intelligence (AGI)—an advanced form of AI where computers potentially attain human-level intelligence. He will now serve as Alphabet’s chief scientist and will take on the role of chairman for DeepMind, shifting his emphasis from day-to-day management.
Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s CEO, expressed confidence in Hassabis’s new role, saying in a companywide memo that he and Hassabis had long discussed a position allowing him to fully dedicate himself to shaping AGI’s future. Pichai described Hassabis as the ideal person for the task, highlighting its importance for both the company and humanity.
Koray Kavukcuoglu, the division’s chief technology officer, will oversee daily operations in the meantime. He will retain the title of senior vice president and continue to serve as Alphabet’s chief AI architect.
Several of Google’s most renowned AI and engineering leaders—Jeff Dean, Sanjay Ghemawat, Oriol Vinyals, and Quoc Le—have exited to start a new venture, Discovery Loop. This startup aims to explore breakthroughs in machine learning, science, and engineering, functioning as a public benefit corporation.
Alphabet did not specify the reasons behind these organizational changes or their timing.
Hassabis, known for prioritizing research over immediate profits, will focus on investigating AI’s societal impacts, with a relatively small team reporting directly to him, according to a Google spokesperson. He also highlighted significant progress on Google’s AI models, including an unreleased upgrade called Gemini 4. Additionally, he plans to dedicate more time to Isomorphic Labs, a drug discovery company he founded and now leads as CEO.
He emphasized the potential of AI to improve human health, stating, “I’ve always believed that the top application of AI should be to enhance human well-being. It’s time for AI to demonstrate its real value to the world, perhaps by helping to finally cure diseases like cancer.”