Google DeepMind Restructures Its Leadership

Google DeepMind is reshaping its leadership: Demis Hassabis becomes Alphabet’s Chief Scientist, while Koray Kavukcuoglu takes operational control.

Demis Hassabis is stepping away from the day-to-day operational management of Google DeepMind to become Chair of the organization and Chief Scientist of Alphabet. He will now focus on AGI strategy, scientific issues, and international engagement, while continuing to lead Isomorphic Labs.

Koray Kavukcuoglu, previously Google DeepMind’s Chief Technology Officer and Google’s Chief AI Architect, is becoming Senior Vice President of Google DeepMind. He will oversee the development of Gemini models, frontier AI research, the Gemini app, and developer teams.

The restructuring comes as Google prepares new model releases, including Gemini 4, which Hassabis explicitly referenced. Sundar Pichai also said that the Gemini app now has more than 950 million monthly users, while Gemma models have surpassed 900 million downloads.

Another change involves Jeff Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat. After 27 years at Google in Dean’s case, the two researchers are leaving the company to create an independent public benefit corporation focused on advances in machine learning, science, and engineering. Google will support the project as a founding investor and cloud partner.

Hassabis will retain an advisory role with Google DeepMind’s teams and work with Sundar Pichai on strategic matters related to AGI. He also plans to deepen his involvement at Isomorphic Labs, particularly in applying AI to medical research.