Barret Zoph joins Google as vice president of research

In short: Barret Zoph, a co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab who briefly returned to OpenAI, is now a vice president of research at Google.

What happened

Barret Zoph has taken a new job at Google as vice president of research, according to reporting cited by TechCrunch. A Google spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the company is looking forward to Zoph returning and bringing his experience to Gemini, Google’s AI model.

Zoph’s recent job history has included several quick moves. He spent two years at OpenAI, then left in October 2024 to co-found Thinking Machines Lab with Mira Murati. He also served as the startup’s CTO, which is the executive in charge of a company’s technology.

In January 2026, Zoph and another co-founder, Luke Metz, left Thinking Machines Lab to return to OpenAI. Zoph’s second stint at OpenAI lasted about five months, where he led AI enterprise sales, meaning he focused on selling AI products to large organizations. He left OpenAI in June 2026, and has now moved to Google.

Why it matters

These leadership changes show how competitive hiring has become in AI, as big companies and startups try to bring in people with rare experience. For regular users, these moves can shape which companies improve their AI assistants and tools faster, and which products get more attention. It is a bit like a sports league where top coaches keep switching teams, and the teams’ strategies change with them.

Source: TechCrunch AI