DeepMind's Hassabis steps back from daily leadership as Google faces more departures

Google's AI push has come a long way since its slow start in generative AI, but fresh signs of turbulence are emerging. DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis has announced he is handing off day-to-day responsibilities to take a broader oversight role at parent company Alphabet, continuing a pattern of high-profile exits from the tech giant.

Hassabis, a co-founder of DeepMind who stayed in a key leadership role after Google acquired it, has been a prominent voice predicting the near arrival of artificial general intelligence (AGI) - AI with human-like abilities. In a memo about his move, he repeated that belief, saying he has worked toward AGI his whole life and feels it is close at hand. He added that the shift will let him focus on the big picture, while remaining in charge of Isomorphic Labs, Google's AI-driven biomedical unit.

Daily operations at DeepMind - the research arm behind Google's Gemini advances - will now go to Koray Kavukcuoglu, who becomes senior vice president reporting directly to CEO Sundar Pichai. Hassabis will take on roles as chair of DeepMind and chief scientist at Alphabet.

Source: Ars Technica