Demis Hassabis has stepped down as CEO of Google DeepMind to become chairman, while chief scientist Jeff Dean and several other prominent researchers are leaving the company. Google DeepMind has missed three release deadlines for its Gemini 3.5 Pro model, falling behind rivals OpenAI and Anthropic, with engineers blaming the company’s failure to prioritize AI coding capabilities. Key departures include Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer to OpenAI and Nobel laureate John Jumper to Anthropic, driven by frustration at lagging behind in the AI race and aggressive poaching. Koray Kavukcuoglu is taking over day-to-day operations as senior vice president, reporting directly to Sundar Pichai from Mountain View, shifting power from the London lab to California’s headquarters. Internal sources describe burnout issues with engineers working 60-hour weeks and tensions over defense contracts.
Source: Read the original article
