3 weeks ago
Alphabet's AI Leadership Overhaul: Hassabis Chief Scientist, Kavukcuoglu Leads DeepMind
Google's parent company, Alphabet, made big changes to the people in charge of its artificial intelligence, or AI, work.
Demis Hassabis, a famous AI scientist who helped start DeepMind in 2010, is stepping down as the boss of Google DeepMind.
He will now be the top science leader for all of Alphabet and the chair of Google DeepMind.
His new job is to think about AGI, a kind of super-smart AI that could think like people, which he says is very close to becoming real.
Another expert, Koray Kavukcuoglu, will take over the day-to-day running of Google DeepMind after 13 years at the lab.
A long-time Google scientist named Jeff Dean is leaving after 27 years to start a new company called Discovery Loop with three colleagues.
The Gemini app, one of Google's AI products, now has more than 950 million users every month.
Google is also facing tough competition from other AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.
The changes are meant to help Google move faster on AI while making sure it benefits humanity.
Alphabet elevated Demis Hassabis to Chair of Google DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet as he steps down as DeepMind CEO.
Koray Kavukcuoglu, formerly Google DeepMind's CTO, becomes Senior Vice President, overseeing model development, research, and the Gemini app and developer teams.
Jeff Dean is leaving Google after 27 years to co-found Discovery Loop, a public benefit corporation, with Sanjay Ghemawat, Oriol Vinyals, and Quoc Le.
The Gemini app has surpassed 950 million monthly users, and Gemini models are seeing strong demand from developers and businesses.
Hassabis called AGI "close at hand" and said stepping back from daily operations lets him focus on AGI and scientific discovery while continuing to lead Isomorphic Labs.
- Who
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai; Demis Hassabis, new Chair of Google DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet; Koray Kavukcuoglu, new Senior Vice President of Google DeepMind; and Jeff Dean, leaving Google after 27 years.
- What
- Alphabet announced a major AI leadership overhaul: Hassabis steps down as DeepMind CEO to focus on AGI, Kavukcuoglu takes charge of Google DeepMind and the Gemini teams, and Jeff Dean departs to co-found Discovery Loop.
- Where
- Announced publicly on X (Twitter) by Sundar Pichai; the changes affect Alphabet and Google DeepMind operations.
- When
- Wednesday, August 5, 2026, announced via Sundar Pichai's post on X.
- Why
- To accelerate Google's AI work and give Hassabis time and space to shape the future of AGI and scientific discovery, as Google competes with OpenAI and Anthropic for AI talent.
Key facts
- Company
- Alphabet (parent company of Google)
- Hassabis's new roles
- Chair of Google DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet; remains CEO of Isomorphic Labs
- Kavukcuoglu's new role
- Senior Vice President of Google DeepMind; at the lab for 13 years; built the deep learning team and drove breakthroughs like WaveNet and DQN
- Jeff Dean's exit
- Leaving Google after 27 years; helped grow the company "from 25 people to over 190,000"
- Discovery Loop
- Public benefit corporation founded by Jeff Dean, Sanjay Ghemawat, Oriol Vinyals, and Quoc Le; Google will be an investor and cloud service provider
- Gemini monthly users
- Over 950 million
- Gemini 3.5 Pro
- Release reportedly pushed back after it reportedly failed to reach its goals
- Market and competition
- Alphabet stock dropped four percent after the news; competition for AI talent includes OpenAI and Anthropic, with Nobel winner John Jumper recently joining Anthropic
Quotes
Demis Hassabis
Co‑founder and chief scientist of Alphabet’s AI division, Google DeepMind.
“"@DemisHassabis is stepping up to become Chair of @GoogleDeepMind & Chief Scientist of Alphabet, in addition to leading @IsomorphicLabs . He’ll be able to dedicate his time and focus on shaping the future of AGI and scientific discovery. It’s work that is vitally important to Alphabet and humanity, and I can’t imagine a better person than Demis to do it. He’ll stay closely connected to Koray and the GDM teams," Pichai noted in his post.”
freepressjournal.in
“Against this backdrop, I have decided that the time is right to hand over my day‑to‑day operational responsibilities at Google DeepMind, so that I have the time and space to focus on the big picture and contribute, as best I can, to shaping what lies ahead.”
freepressjournal.in
thehansindia.com
Sources
Related news
Google DeepMind Leadership Overhaul: Hassabis Elevated, Jeff Dean Departs
Alphabet Falls 4% as Google AI Shake-Up Raises Gemini Delays
Jeff Dean leaves Google to launch AI startup Discovery Loop
Google DeepMind loses CEO and chief scientist Jeff Dean
Hassabis Steps Down as DeepMind CEO, Named Alphabet Chief Scientist
Google's Big AI Reshuffle: Brin Pushes Gemini, Hassabis Steps Aside
Alphabet Shares Slide as AI Talent Departures Fuel Investor Concerns
US Urges G20 Lighter AI Rules as China Advances
AI-Enabled Travel-Photo Analysis Gives Scammers Precise Clues
Google Reportedly Moves 90 AI Safety Experts From DeepMind
Former Google Researchers Propose Human-AI Judges Against Rogue Models
