Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced leadership changes at Google DeepMind, effective immediately. Demis Hassabis, who led the division as CEO, will transition to Chair of Google DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet, while maintaining his role at Isomorphic Labs. According to Pichai’s message to staff, the change allows Hassabis to focus on “actively shaping the future of AGI” and strategic matters.
Koray Kavukcuoglu, the current Chief Technology Officer and Chief AI Architect of Google DeepMind, will assume the role of Senior Vice President of Google DeepMind. He will oversee Gemini model development, Frontier AI research, and the Gemini app and developer teams. Kavukcuoglu has been at DeepMind for 13 years and led breakthroughs including WaveNet and DQN, according to Pichai.
In a separate development, Jeff Dean is departing Google after 27 years. According to Pichai, Dean and Senior Fellow Sanjay Ghemawat are launching an independent public benefit corporation focused on accelerating discoveries in machine learning, science, and engineering. Pichai noted that Dean and Ghemawat “helped drive some of the most significant technology transitions, from our early search infrastructure to the neural networks that helped create the modern AI era.” Google will continue working with their new venture as a founding investor and Cloud partner.
In his message to staff, Hassabis described the moment as pivotal for AGI development and stated that stepping back from day-to-day operations would allow him to focus on “the big picture and help influence what is to come.” He expressed confidence in Kavukcuoglu and the executive team to continue developing Gemini models and advancing AI research. Hassabis also indicated plans to accelerate work at Isomorphic Labs, which focuses on using AI to improve human health and address diseases like cancer.
The changes come as Google DeepMind reports significant momentum, including the Gemini app reaching over 950 million monthly users and Gemma models surpassing 900 million downloads.
Key facts
- Demis Hassabis moves from CEO to Chair of Google DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet
- Koray Kavukcuoglu becomes Senior Vice President of Google DeepMind
- Jeff Dean departs after 27 years to launch an independent public benefit corporation with Sanjay Ghemawat
- The Gemini app has reached over 950 million monthly users
- Gemma models have surpassed 900 million downloads