Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai recently announced significant organizational changes within Google DeepMind (GDM), detailing the next phase of the company’s artificial intelligence momentum. The announcements included new senior roles for Demis Hassabis and Koray Kavukcuoglu, designed to accelerate research into Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and further solidify the company’s position in AI technology.
CEO Sundar Pichai Outlines AI Progress and Structural Shifts
Speaking to GDM teams, Sundar Pichai highlighted the “extraordinary progress” made across Google’s full AI stack. He noted that the company possesses world-class compute resources and exceptional talent, enabling it to bring AI to more people than any competitor. Pichai pointed to strong performance across all business units, including Search, YouTube, and Cloud, and emphasized the high demand for Gemini models among developers and businesses. The Gemini app, in particular, reached over 950 million monthly users.
Pichai stressed the need to maintain focus on the AI frontier while simultaneously shaping the future of AGI and science, noting that this represents an “ever more important moment.” To facilitate this dual focus, he announced key leadership realignments. Demis Hassabis was appointed Chair of GDM and Chief Scientist of Alphabet. This new role allows Hassabis to dedicate his full attention to actively shaping the future of AGI—a task Pichai described as “vitally important to Alphabet and humanity.” Hassabis will continue to lead Isomorphic Labs while advising across models and research.
Furthermore, Koray Kavukcuoglu, formerly the Chief Technology Officer of GDM and Chief AI Architect, was named Senior Vice President (SVP) of Google DeepMind. Reporting directly to Pichai, Kavukcuoglu will oversee Gemini model development, Frontier AI research, and the teams responsible for the Gemini application and developer platforms. Pichai acknowledged Kavukcuoglu’s extensive background, noting his 13 years at DeepMind and his previous contributions to breakthroughs like WaveNet and DQN.
In a separate announcement, Pichai shared news regarding Jeff Dean and Google Senior Fellow Sanjay Ghemawat. Following a career spanning 27 years, Dean and Ghemawat are launching an independent public benefit corporation. This new entity aims to speed up discoveries in machine learning, science, and engineering. Pichai stated that he and his colleagues will continue to collaborate with them as founding investors and Cloud partners, working together on a research framework for ML systems and infrastructure.
Demis Hassabis Addresses the Pivotal Moment in AI
Demis Hassabis addressed his team, declaring that humanity has reached a “pivotal moment” in history concerning AI and AGI. He stated that he felt the field was close to a major breakthrough and that it was crucial for the team to correctly manage the next steps to ensure a beneficial transition into a new age of discovery.
In light of this, Hassabis announced his transition from day-to-day operations at GDM to a new strategic capacity as Chair of GDM and Chief Scientist of Alphabet. He expressed confidence in Koray Kavukcuoglu, who will assume the leadership role of SVP of Google DeepMind. Hassabis emphasized the strong collaboration between him and Koray, which has spanned over 13 years since the early days of DeepMind.
Hassabis highlighted the company’s operational strengths, mentioning the excellent progress of the Gemini models, the Gemini App’s growth to over 950 million monthly users, and the continuous leadership in fundamental and scientific research. He reiterated his commitment to Isomorphic Labs, where he believes AI can prove its value by helping to cure diseases such as cancer.
Concluding his message, Hassabis affirmed the company’s market position, asserting that Google remains the only company possessing the entire stack—from infrastructure and cloud services to frontier models and AI-first applications—making it ideally positioned to lead the industry forward.
