Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a major leadership evolution designed to strengthen the company's AI strategy as it enters its next phase of growth. As part of the changes, Demis Hassabis will become Alphabet's Chief Scientist and Chair of Google DeepMind, allowing him to focus on long-term AI research, artificial general intelligence (AGI), and breakthrough scientific innovations. Meanwhile, DeepMind CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu will take on expanded operational leadership, overseeing the development and delivery of Google's AI technologies.
Pichai emphasized that Google has built extraordinary momentum in artificial intelligence over the past few years, with Gemini models, AI-powered Search, Cloud, Workspace, and Android reaching billions of users. The leadership changes are intended to accelerate innovation by enabling research leaders to concentrate on pioneering AI while experienced executives focus on scaling products and delivering them more quickly to customers.
The announcement also recognized the contributions of longtime Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, who is leaving the company after decades of pioneering work in AI, distributed systems, and machine learning. Pichai praised Dean's impact on Google's technological foundation and expressed confidence that the company's deep research talent and strengthened leadership structure will continue driving advances in AI across products and scientific discovery.
According to Pichai, this organizational shift marks the beginning of Google's "next chapter" in AI, balancing frontier research with faster product execution. By aligning world-class researchers with dedicated operational leaders, Google aims to deliver more capable AI systems, expand the reach of Gemini, and accelerate innovations that benefit consumers, businesses, and scientific research while maintaining a strong focus on responsible AI development.
