Demis Hassabis steps down from his operational role at Google DeepMind

DeepMind’s co-founder is stepping down as chief executive to become chairman of the lab and chief scientific officer at Alphabet, in Google’s most extensive AI reorganisation since 2023.

Google announced in early August 2026 a redesign of its organization in artificial intelligence. Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind, abandons the title of general manager of the entity to become president, while taking the position of scientific director of Alphabet. The change confirms a shift already underway: less day-to-day management, more IMA strategy and scientific applications of AI.

Koray Kavukcuoglu, the technical director of DeepMind and Alphabet architect IA, is responsible for the operational management. He took the title of senior vice president of Google DeepMind — not executive director — and reported directly to Sundar Pichai. He will now lead the development of Gemini models.

The movement is accompanied by other notable departures, including that of Scientific Director Jeff Dean, who leaves the company with several colleagues to found his own company, in which Google will take a stake. DeepMind's communications, legal and marketing teams also merge with Google's. This is the group's deepest IA reorganization since the merger of Google Brain and DeepMind in 2023.