Google reshuffles DeepMind leadership as Koray Kavukcuoglu takes charge

MOUNTAIN VIEW: Google is reshuffling its AI leadership as it looks to keep its momentum going, with Demis Hassabis stepping back from day-to-day management of Google DeepMind and Koray Kavukcuoglu taking charge of the division.

In a message to employees, Sundar Pichai said Hassabis will become chair of Google DeepMind and chief scientist of Alphabet, while continuing to lead Isomorphic Labs. Kavukcuoglu, currently chief technology officer of Google DeepMind and Google’s chief AI architect, will become senior vice president of Google DeepMind and report directly to Pichai.

The changes come as Google seeks to accelerate development across its AI stack, with the Gemini family of models at the centre of its strategy.

Pichai said Gemini is seeing strong demand among developers and businesses, while the Gemini app has crossed 950 million monthly users. He also pointed to recent advances in Gemini Robotics and the wider growth of Google’s AI products across Search, YouTube and Cloud.

Hassabis said he was handing over his day-to-day operational responsibilities to focus on broader questions around artificial general intelligence and the future of AI.

As chair of Google DeepMind and chief scientist of Alphabet, he will continue advising the company’s model and research teams while working closely with Pichai on strategic and global AGI matters.

He will also devote more time to Isomorphic Labs, Google’s AI-focused drug discovery venture, where he said the company is making rapid progress.

Hassabis said the Gemini models were “in good hands” under Kavukcuoglu and the existing leadership team, while highlighting progress on upcoming models including Gemini 4.

Kavukcuoglu has been with DeepMind for 13 years and has played a central role in its technical development. He founded the company’s deep learning team and worked on breakthroughs including WaveNet and DQN.

His expanded remit will cover Gemini model development, frontier AI research, as well as the Gemini app and developer teams.

The move gives Kavukcuoglu a broader operational role at a time when Google is seeking to move faster in the AI race. Pichai said the company remains focused on areas where it needs to improve while preparing for its next wave of model releases.

Google also announced a separate leadership transition involving Jeff Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat. After 27 years at Google, Dean will launch an independent public benefit corporation with Ghemawat focused on accelerating discoveries in machine learning, science and engineering.

Google will remain a founding investor and cloud partner in the new venture and plans to collaborate with it on research into machine-learning systems and related infrastructure.

The reshuffle leaves Google DeepMind with a clearer split between long-term AI and scientific strategy under Hassabis and day-to-day model development under Kavukcuoglu. For Google, the message is straightforward: the AI race is moving fast, and Gemini needs to move faster.