Google's Top AI Researchers Depart for New Venture with Alphabet Investment
Four top AI researchers at Google have left to start their own company, Discovery Loop. The team includes Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, who has been at Google for 27 years, along with Sanjay Ghemawat, Oriol Vinyals, and Quoc Le. Alphabet is investing in the new company and will be its cloud partner.
The researchers are leaving to focus on AI research for scientific and engineering purposes. Discovery Loop aims to automate research using AI. Alphabet's investment in the company is significant, as it shows confidence in the team's vision.
Google Cloud revenue grew 82% year over year last quarter, accelerating from 32% growth a year earlier. This growth is driven by increasing demand for cloud computing capacity. Alphabet raised its 2026 capital expenditure plan to a range of $195 billion to $205 billion due to the spending required to support this growth.
The departure of these researchers may have caused concern among investors, but Alphabet's stock price has not changed significantly. The company's growth and revenue continue to be strong, driven by advertising and demand for cloud computing capacity.