Google's AI division is experiencing an internal leadership change amidst a competitive talent environment, as companies strive to develop advanced large language models and secure market share. Last week, it was reported that Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google's DeepMind, is transitioning from his day-to-day leadership role. He will now serve as chair of DeepMind, chief scientist for Google's parent company Alphabet, and continue as CEO of Isomorphic Labs.
Additionally, Jeff Dean, Google's current chief scientist and a 27-year veteran, along with three colleagues, are departing to establish Discovery Loop, a startup that Google is supporting. This news reportedly led to a 4% drop in Google's stock, which had not recovered at the time of the report.
These executive changes follow other key leaders' exits over the past year, some of whom have moved to competitors. Reports also indicate poor morale and delayed releases, including Gemini 3.5 Pro being months behind schedule. Google continues to trail OpenAI in the AI race, with ChatGPT having 1.11 billion monthly users as of May, compared to Gemini's 662 million monthly users in the same month.