Big Changes at Google's AI Labs

On August 5, 2026, Google announced a change in AI leadership. Demis Hassabis has been named Alphabet's chief scientist and will become chair of Google DeepMind. Hassabis is a British scientist and Nobel laureate who will continue to lead Isomorphic Labs.

At almost the same time, several senior researchers have left Google to start a new company called Discovery Loop. Jeff Dean has left and is starting Discovery Loop with other senior engineers; Google will invest and provide cloud support. Although some staff have been worried about product delays, the company said the reorganization aims to focus research and product work more clearly.

Koray Kavukcuoglu will take on day-to-day leadership of the unit and will focus on the Gemini roadmap. While Hassabis moves into science-focused work, the company expects the teams to keep working on safety and advanced research since these are core goals.