Google changes AI leadership roles at DeepMind and Alphabet

In short: Google is reshuffling top AI leaders, with Demis Hassabis changing roles, a new day to day DeepMind leader, and Jeff Dean leaving to start a new company.

What happened

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a set of leadership changes around Google DeepMind, the part of Google that builds and studies artificial intelligence.

Demis Hassabis, who has been a top leader for DeepMind, is stepping down from his role and will become the chair of Google DeepMind and the chief scientist at Alphabet, which is Google’s parent company. Pichai said Hassabis will also keep leading Isomorphic Labs, an Alphabet group that aims to use AI to help develop new drugs.

Koray Kavukcuoglu, who was previously DeepMind’s CTO (the senior leader in charge of technology decisions), will become Google’s senior vice president of DeepMind. He will report directly to Pichai. Kavukcuoglu will also keep his role as Google’s chief AI architect, meaning he helps shape how AI is built across the company.

Pichai also said Jeff Dean, the chief scientist of Google DeepMind and one of Google’s earliest employees, is leaving. Dean and Google Fellow Sanjay Ghemawat are forming an AI-focused public benefit corporation called Discovery Loop. A public benefit corporation is a type of company that says it will pursue a public good alongside profits. Google will be a founding investor.

Why it matters

These changes can influence what Google chooses to build and prioritize with AI, including work in health and medicine. Leadership shifts also affect how quickly products move from research into everyday tools that people use at work, at school, or on their phones.

Source: The Verge AI