Google DeepMind leadership overhaul: Hassabis steps back, Kavukcuoglu becomes SVP

Google DeepMind

Industry official + media 4 src. ~1 min

Google restructured its AI leadership: Demis Hassabis moves from Google DeepMind CEO to Chair of Google DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet while continuing to lead Isomorphic Labs, and Koray Kavukcuoglu becomes SVP of Google DeepMind, taking over Gemini model development, Frontier AI research, and the Gemini app/developer teams, reporting directly to Sundar Pichai.

Why it matters

Changes who directly runs Gemini model development and frontier research at one of the largest AI labs, alongside the departure of longtime Google chief scientist Jeff Dean to a new startup.

Importance: 4/5

Major leadership reorganization at a frontier lab, confirmed by 4 independent sources.

Sources