Archive · 10 Aug 2026
Google DeepMind Leadership Overhaul: Hassabis Elevated, Jeff Dean Departs
Google has a special team that works on very smart computer programs, called artificial intelligence, or AI.
The leader of Google, Sundar Pichai, told everyone that this team is getting new leaders.
Demis Hassabis, who helped start the team, is getting a bigger job thinking about the future of AI for all of Alphabet, Google's parent company.
He will also keep leading Isomorphic Labs, which uses AI to help discover new medicines.
Koray Kavukcuoglu will now be in charge of the team's day-to-day work, including building the Gemini AI models.
A famous computer scientist named Jeff Dean is leaving Google after working there for 27 years.
He and Sanjay Ghemawat are starting a brand-new, independent company to help science and engineering using machine learning.
Google will help support the new company as an investor and partner.
Pichai said the changes will help Google keep moving forward.
He also shared that the Gemini app has more than 950 million users every month.
Sundar Pichai announced a major leadership reshuffle at Google DeepMind in an internal email later published on Google's official blog.
Demis Hassabis will become Chair of Google DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet while continuing to lead Isomorphic Labs.
Koray Kavukcuoglu, formerly CTO of Google DeepMind and Chief AI Architect, steps up as Senior Vice President, overseeing Gemini model development, Frontier AI research, and the Gemini app and developer teams.
Jeff Dean is leaving Google after 27 years and, with Sanjay Ghemawat, will launch an independent public benefit corporation to accelerate discoveries in machine learning, science, and engineering.
Google will work with the new venture as a founding investor and cloud partner, and Pichai cited momentum including the Gemini app's 950M+ monthly users.
- Who
- Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, announced changes involving Demis Hassabis, Koray Kavukcuoglu, Jeff Dean, and Sanjay Ghemawat.
- What
- A major leadership reshuffle at Google DeepMind: Hassabis becomes Chair of Google DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet, Kavukcuoglu steps up as SVP, and Jeff Dean departs to co-found a new public benefit corporation.
- When
- No specific date is given; the announcement came through an internal email later published on Google's official blog.
- Where
- Alphabet and Google DeepMind, with the announcement made to employees and published on Google's official blog.
- Why
- To accelerate AI work and allow Hassabis to focus on shaping the future of AGI and science, while keeping the company's momentum.
- Company
- Google / Alphabet
- Demis Hassabis' new role
- Chair of Google DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet
- Koray Kavukcuoglu's new role
- Senior Vice President of Google DeepMind
- Kavukcuoglu's previous role
- CTO of Google DeepMind and Chief AI Architect
- Jeff Dean's tenure
- 27 years at Google
- Jeff Dean's new venture
- Independent public benefit corporation with Sanjay Ghemawat
- Gemini app monthly users
- 950 million+
- Gemma model downloads
- 900 million+