Changes at Google DeepMind: Demis Hassabis from CEO to Chair, Jeff Dean departs(blog.google)
719 points by colesantiago 21 hours ago | 772 comments
tl;dr: Demis Hassabis is stepping back from day-to-day operations at Google DeepMind to become Chair of GDM and Chief Scientist of Alphabet, focusing on AGI strategy and Isomorphic Labs. Koray Kavukcuoglu, currently CTO, will take over as SVP of Google DeepMind, overseeing Gemini development and frontier research. Separately, Jeff Dean is leaving after 27 years to launch an independent public benefit corporation with Sanjay Ghemawat aimed at accelerating ML and science research, with Google as a founding investor.
HN Discussion:
  • Google is hemorrhaging top AI talent, signaling a hostile or dysfunctional internal environment
  • ~The real headline is Jeff and Sanjay's departure, not Demis's role change
  • DeepMind's pure research excellence was ruined by commercial pressure to compete with OpenAI/Anthropic
  • Startup equity at OpenAI/Anthropic incentivizes talent more than Google's mature stock compensation
  • Nostalgic reflections on Jeff, Sanjay, and Demis marking the end of a golden era