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Google reshuffles DeepMind leadership as Jeff Dean leaves
Demis Hassabis becomes Google DeepMind chair as Koray Kavukcuoglu takes over operations. Jeff Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat are also leaving for Discovery Loop.
Image: The Verge
Google is reorganizing its top AI leadership, moving Demis Hassabis out of the day-to-day leadership role at Google DeepMind while elevating former CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu to run the unit.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced that Hassabis will become chair of Google DeepMind and chief scientist at Alphabet. Hassabis will continue leading Isomorphic Labs, Alphabet’s effort to use AI for drug development, and will remain involved in strategic and global artificial general intelligence work.
“It’s time for AI to prove its unequivocal value to the world, and what better way to demonstrate that than to help finally cure diseases like cancer.”
Kavukcuoglu takes operational control
Kavukcuoglu will become Google’s SVP of DeepMind, reporting directly to Pichai. He will also retain his position as Google’s chief AI architect, giving him responsibility for both DeepMind’s leadership and the broader architecture of Google’s AI efforts.
Hassabis said he would continue working closely with Pichai on “strategic and global AGI matters” and advise Kavukcuoglu and other DeepMind leaders. The announcement does not specify when the leadership changes take effect.
The move separates DeepMind’s operational management from Hassabis' scientific, strategic, and health-focused responsibilities. That is a meaningful change for a lab that Hassabis has led since its founding period, even though he is staying within Alphabet and retaining influence over its long-term AI direction.
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Jeff Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat leave for Discovery Loop
Google also announced the departure of two highly prominent researchers. Jeff Dean, Google DeepMind’s chief scientist and the company’s 30th employee, will leave alongside Google Fellow Sanjay Ghemawat to create Discovery Loop, an AI-focused public benefit corporation.
Google will be a “founding investor” in the new company, according to Pichai. Discovery Loop says it plans to build AI systems that can automatically solve important problems in machine learning, science, and engineering, with the broader goal of accelerating scientific and engineering discovery.
“Ultimately, our goal is to build AI systems that act as a deeply positive, empowering force for humanity, delivering technology solutions that improve people’s lives on a global scale.”
Taken together, the changes give Kavukcuoglu direct operational authority at DeepMind, position Hassabis around science, health, and AGI strategy, and spin out two senior Google researchers with the company still financially involved. Google has not disclosed further details about Discovery Loop’s structure, funding amount, or launch timetable.
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Ava covers the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, from foundational models and research labs to the real-world economics of intelligence. With a background in computational linguistics, she cuts through the hype to find out what actually works. She firmly believes that benchmarks are just marketing until reproduced in the wild.
via The Verge
