Demis Hassabis is stepping down as CEO of Google DeepMind to become chairman and chief scientist of Alphabet, while Koray Kavukcuoglu takes over day-to-day operations.
The move comes as Google faces delays with its Gemini 3.5 Pro model and losses of key researchers to rival AI labs, compounding pressure on the company's AI leadership.
Concurrently, 27-year Google veteran Jeff Dean is leaving to cofound Discovery Loop, an independent public benefit corporation focused on automating machine learning and scientific research, with Alphabet as a founding investor.
What happened
Demis Hassabis is leaving the CEO role of Google DeepMind to become chairman of the unit and chief scientist of Alphabet. Koray Kavukcuoglu, the unit's chief technology officer, is taking over as senior vice president and will report to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. The shift formalizes Hassabis's move away from day-to-day management toward AGI strategy and scientific AI applications.
Why it matters
The restructuring reflects Google's effort to reorganize leadership as it faces mounting pressure in AI development. The company has lost key researchers to competitors—Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer to OpenAI and Nobel laureate John Jumper to Anthropic—while Gemini 3.5 Pro, the next flagship model, is months behind its original June launch target. Hassabis wrote that he believes AGI is close at hand and that getting the next steps right is critical for humanity, signaling the strategic weight Google places on the transition.
What to watch
Jeff Dean, Google's chief scientist and 27-year veteran, is also departing to cofound Discovery Loop, a public benefit corporation aimed at automating machine learning, science, and engineering research. He is joined by former Googlers Sanjay Ghemawat, Oriol Vinyals, and Quoc Le; Alphabet is a founding investor and will supply cloud compute. Alphabet shares fell around 5% on the news of the reshuffling.
Google DeepMind announced a major leadership restructuring on Wednesday, with CEO Demis Hassabis stepping down from his daily operational role to become chairman of the unit and chief scientist of Alphabet. In explaining the move, Hassabis framed it as a deliberate shift toward AGI strategy and the scientific applications of artificial intelligence. Koray Kavukcuoglu, who has served as DeepMind's chief technology officer and Alphabet's chief AI architect, assumes the day-to-day CEO duties as senior vice president of Google DeepMind, reporting to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai rather than holding a standalone CEO title. Going forward, Kavukcuoglu will oversee Gemini model development.
Hassabis, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on AlphaFold, communicated to staff that he believes artificial general intelligence is near and that executing the next steps correctly is critical for humanity. He indicated he will dedicate more time to Isomorphic Labs, Alphabet's AI drug discovery unit, which he has identified as the highest-impact application of AI for human health. In his message, Hassabis also highlighted the company's "great progress" with new models, specifically naming the unreleased Gemini 4.
The restructuring coincides with another significant departure: Jeff Dean, Google's chief scientist and a 27-year veteran of the company, is stepping down to cofound Discovery Loop, a public benefit corporation focused on automating machine learning, science, and engineering research. Dean is joined by former Google engineers Sanjay Ghemawat, Oriol Vinyals, and Quoc Le. Alphabet is investing as a founding stakeholder and will provide cloud computing resources. In an interview with the New York Times, Dean explained that working outside a public corporation offers the team latitude to make decisions not necessarily aligned with a company's financial interests. Sundar Pichai noted in his own staff message: "After an incredible 27-year run, Jeff Dean is at a moment where he wants to try something new, and we're excited to support him in that."
The timing of the reorganization underscores mounting challenges for Google. Gemini 3.5 Pro, the company's next flagship model, is months behind its planned June launch. Google has also experienced a series of exits from Gemini's leadership and research teams, losing co-lead Noam Shazeer to OpenAI and Nobel laureate John Jumper to Anthropic. Alphabet's stock price declined approximately 5% following the announcement of the reshuffle. In his note to staff, Pichai attempted to reinforce confidence, stating that Google possesses the talent, compute, and distribution needed to compete, signaling the company's determination to maintain its position in an increasingly crowded AI landscape.
Google DeepMind is restructuring at a moment of intensifying competitive pressure in AI development. The company faces a convergence of setbacks: Gemini 3.5 Pro, its next flagship model, is months behind the original June launch target, and it has lost prominent researchers to rivals—Noam Shazeer to OpenAI and John Jumper, a Nobel laureate, to Anthropic. These departures and delays appear to be driving the leadership reshuffle. Hassabis's shift from CEO to chairman and chief scientist reflects a reorientation of his own focus toward long-term AGI strategy and applied work at Isomorphic Labs rather than managing day-to-day operations. The transfer of operational control to Kavukcuoglu, who will report directly to Sundar Pichai at Alphabet, streamlines the organizational hierarchy and may be intended to accelerate Gemini model development.
The concurrent departure of Jeff Dean, a 27-year Google veteran and its chief scientist, signals a broader restlessness among senior technologists at the company. Dean's move to cofound Discovery Loop—backed by Alphabet as a founding investor—suggests he seeks the freedom to pursue research directions outside the constraints of a public company's financial incentives. In his note to staff, he cited the opportunity to operate independently on machine learning, science, and engineering automation. Despite these losses, Alphabet CEO Pichai affirmed in a note to staff that Google retains "the talent, compute, and distribution to compete," though the stock market's 5% decline on the announcement suggests investor skepticism about the strategy.
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