Google shakes up AI leadership as DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis shifts role
Google's AI division sees a significant leadership overhaul and key departures. Demis Hassabis moves to chief scientist while Koray Kavukcuoglu takes over daily operations. Several prominent AI engineers, including Jeff Dean, have left to form a new startup. This shakeup occurs as Google's Gemini model faces launch delays and competitive pressure. The company faces challenges in its artificial…
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced significant leadership changes within its AI division on Wednesday. Demis Hassabis, the CEO of Google DeepMind and a Nobel Prize recipient, is stepping down from his managerial role to become Alphabet's chief scientist. He will focus on shaping the future of artificial general intelligence (AGI), a state where computers possess human-level intelligence. This transition is due to the urgency surrounding AGI and the potential impact on humanity.
Several top leaders from Google's Gemini model, including veteran engineer Jeff Dean, have departed the company to launch a new startup called Discovery Loop. The startup aims to research breakthroughs in machine learning, science, and engineering. Dean, Sanjay Ghemawat, Oriol Vinyals, and Quoc Le will work on this venture, which is structured as a public benefit corporation.
Dean, Ghemawat, Vinyals, and Le's departure comes at a critical time for Google, as rival AI companies Anthropic and OpenAI have recently acquired top Google AI staff. These moves have left Google lagging behind its competitors in the AI race. In response, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized the importance of AGI research and appointed Koray Kavukcuoglu as the senior vice president of the AI business unit, taking over Hassabis' previous role as chief technology officer.
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- Google shakes up AI leadership as DeepMind chief shifts role channelnewsasia.com
