Alphabet is reshuffling the leadership of its AI crown jewel, and the architect of Google DeepMind is moving aside.
Demis Hassabis told employees this week that he has chased artificial general intelligence his entire career, that it now feels close at hand, and that the industry must get the coming steps right for humanity. He becomes chairman of the lab and chief scientist of Alphabet.
Koray Kavukcuoglu, a 13-year DeepMind veteran, takes over as senior vice president, reporting directly to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. His remit spans Gemini model development, Frontier AI research, and the Gemini app and developer teams.
The handover is the latest in a series of leadership shifts across the AI establishment. Days earlier, longtime Google researcher Jeff Dean left to found a science AI startup, and DeepMind Nobel laureate John Jumper departed for Anthropic in June.
Hassabis will keep a hand in research strategy while gaining a company-wide perch, giving Alphabet a single scientist coordinating AI efforts across its sprawling portfolio. The question now is whether his timeline for AGI shapes how Google sets priorities, and how fast.
