BlockBeats reported on Aug. 8, citing people familiar with the matter, that DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis had originally planned to leave Google at the same time as Jeff Dean. Google management, however, concluded that announcing both departures together could send the company’s stock into a collapse. The report said Google shares had already fallen 5% after only the departures of Dean and others were made public.
Management then persuaded Hassabis to move first into the role of DeepMind chair, giving the organization a period of stability before he exits in what was described as a more dignified way. In that position, Hassabis would be able to spend more time on scientific work and increase his focus on Isomorphic Labs, the Alphabet-owned drug discovery company he founded.
The source cited in the report expects Hassabis to leave Google entirely within a year.
Broader changes inside Google AI
The report lands as Google’s AI leadership is going through a major reshuffle. DeepMind is changing leadership, Jeff Dean is leaving, and the stock has moved lower at the same time.
Dean, one of Google’s earliest employees, has spent the past 15 years helping design the company’s artificial intelligence strategy and has long been a central figure in that effort. He is now set to leave Google and become chief executive of a new nonprofit called Discovery Loop.
Joining Dean in that new venture are senior Google employees Oriol Vinyals, Quoc Le, and Sanjay Ghemawat. According to the report, the four have collectively driven major advances in mathematics and protein structure research and rank among the world’s most-cited researchers.
Talent departures add to pressure
The departure of these figures, including Dean, adds to what the report described as a recent trend of AI talent leaving Google.
At the same time, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis is changing roles. He will step away from day-to-day operational duties, become chair of Google DeepMind, and also serve as Alphabet’s chief scientist while continuing to lead Isomorphic Labs.
Hassabis’ role at DeepMind
Hassabis is one of the best-known figures in artificial intelligence. He co-founded DeepMind in 2010 and continued to lead the team after Google acquired the company in 2014.
In recent years, he has led DeepMind’s work in foundation models, AI research, and scientific computing. Under his leadership, DeepMind produced high-profile AI projects including AlphaGo and AlphaFold and became a core pillar of Google’s AI strategy.
BlockBeats pointed readers to a longer report titled “Hassabis steps down, Jeff Dean leaves to start a company, and Google’s ranks are shaken.”