Google's Jeff Dean Leaves to Launch AI Startup Discovery Loop

Jeff Dean, Google's chief scientist and one of its longest-serving employees, has left to start his own AI company. The new venture is called Discovery Loop, a public benefit corporation that aims to automate machine learning, science, and engineering processes to accelerate discoveries and progress.

The company's mission is to tackle some of the world's most pressing challenges in science and engineering by enabling 'parallel execution of thousands of experiments.' It hopes to build systems that can handle parts of the 14 Grand Challenges laid out by the National Academy of Engineering, which include topics like 'Reverse Engineer the Brain' and 'Prevent Nuclear Terror.'

Discovery Loop has secured funding from several notable investors, including Radical Ventures and Khosla Ventures. Alphabet is also a founding investor and cloud partner. Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressed his gratitude to Dean for his 27-year tenure at Google.