Google's AI unit is facing fresh turbulence as DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis announces he will step away from day-to-day operations, taking a broader oversight role at parent company Alphabet. The move comes amid a continuing wave of high-profile departures from the company, which has struggled with talent retention even as it has surged to the forefront of generative AI development after an initially slow start.

Hassabis, a co-founder of DeepMind who kept a key leadership position after Google acquired the lab, has been one of the most prominent voices predicting the imminent arrival of artificial general intelligence (AGI)—typically defined as AI with human-like capabilities. In an internal memo explaining his decision, he again emphasized that promise, saying he has worked toward AGI his whole life and feels it is now close at hand. He described the shift as allowing him to focus on the 'big picture' work needed at this moment.

Under the new arrangement, Koray Kavukcuoglu will take over daily operations at DeepMind, which handles the core AI research powering Google's Gemini systems. Kavukcuoglu will serve as senior vice president, reporting directly to CEO Sundar Pichai. Hassabis, meanwhile, will become chair of DeepMind and chief scientist at Alphabet, while also retaining leadership of Isomorphic Labs, a Google venture applying AI to biomedical problems.

Source: Ars Technica