Google DeepMind Restructuring: Departures and Shifts Shake Up AI Research

Google has experienced significant changes within its DeepMind division following a recent shakeup. Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind and Nobel laureate, is stepping away from day-to-day control of the lab to become its chairman and new chief scientist for Google's parent company Alphabet. This move follows Jeff Dean, Google's chief scientist and 30th employee, who has departed after 27 years to found his own AI startup.

The changes are part of a larger restructuring effort within Google's AI research operations. In 2023, Google merged its DeepMind and Brain divisions into a single entity, but this move created tension between the two offices in London and Mountain View. Hassabis ran the combined division from London, while Dean remained in Silicon Valley.

The cultural divide between the teams led to internal competition for resources, including computing power. This slowed down decision-making within Google DeepMind, according to Ben Pouladian, an analyst who covers AI infrastructure. 'They're not able to make decisions,' he said. 'There's a lot of bureaucracy slowing things down.'