Demis Hassabis quits as Google DeepMind CEO for AGI role

Move follows dismantling of AlphaFold team

Sir Demis Hassabis, head of Google DeepMind who won a Nobel prize for his work on predicting protein structures with the AI model AlphaFold, is quitting his role as CEO of the unit.

In a move that shows Google redoubling its efforts to remain competitive in generative AI, Hassabis will become Alphabet's chief scientist, a position focused on company's pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI). He won’t be leaving DeepMind entirely, becoming chairman while current CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu moves into the CEO role.

Hassabis co-founded the AI/ML startup DeepMind in 2010, selling it to Google in 2014. In 2024 he won a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry for his work on AlphaFold 2, being knighted the same year.

His move away from fronting DeepMind follows weeks of upheaval at the unit, including the dissolution of DeepMind’s AlphaFold team.

In June, John Jumper, co-winner with Hassabis of the Nobel Prize, left Google for Anthropic, followed by two colleagues.

Three other members of the core research team left to form a startup, while another joined OpenAI.

Google has reassigned remaining members of the AlphaFold team to roles more closely aligned with its Gemini models, and in July the company announced it was dismantling what remained of AlphaFold.

Dissolving the prize-winning research project just two years after its crowning glory speaks to the intense competition for top researchers and scientists at the main AI players, as well as indicating a possible brain drain at Google. It also suggests that the company feels it needs its best minds focused on Gemini.

Announcing his decision to change roles within Google, Hassabis said he wanted to focus on achieving AGI, which he believes is close at hand. "It’s critical that we collectively get the next steps right to ensure this all goes well for humanity and we usher in an incredible new age of discovery and wonder," he said in a note to DeepMind staff.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said Hassabis’ move is the culmination of discussions about "a role that allows him to put his full attention on actively shaping the future of AGI.”

He added: “It’s work that is vitally important to Alphabet and humanity, and I can’t imagine a better person than Demis to do it."

Hassabis also said he would also be spending more time working with Isomorphic Labs, the Alphabet subsidiary that uses AI for drug discovery, where he remains CEO.