Sundar Pichai reshapes Google DeepMind leadership, making Demis Hassabis chair and Alphabet chief scientist

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai used an internal message to outline a leadership reset at Google DeepMind, positioning it as a way to accelerate the company’s AI momentum while giving more time and focus to long-term “AGI and science” work.

In the note dated Aug. 5, Pichai said Alphabet and Google have “extraordinary progress” delivering what he described as a full AI stack, citing momentum across Search, YouTube, and Cloud. He also pointed to product and research indicates, including demand for the Gemini models among developers and businesses, and said the Gemini app has reached 950M+ monthly users. He added that AI research continues to produce what he called field-defining breakthroughs, referencing “Gemini Robotics” progress from the prior week.

Central to the announcement is Demis Hassabis. Pichai said he and Hassabis have long discussed a role that lets Hassabis devote “full attention” to actively shaping the future of AGI, which he described as work “vitally important to Alphabet and humanity.” Under the change, Hassabis will become Chair of Google DeepMind (GDM) and Chief Scientist of Alphabet, while continuing to lead Isomorphic Labs. Pichai said Hassabis will remain closely connected to DeepMind leaders including Koray Kavukcuoglu and Josh on models and research and will advise across DeepMind activities.

Pichai’s message also elevates Koray Kavukcuoglu. He is currently listed in the note as Chief Technology Officer of GDM and Chief AI Architect of Google. The plan, according to Pichai, is for Kavukcuoglu to step up as SVP of Google DeepMind, reporting to Pichai. The responsibilities Pichai assigned include overseeing Gemini model development, Frontier AI research, and the Gemini app and developer teams.

The internal note credited Kavukcuoglu’s long tenure at DeepMind, saying he helped start the deep learning team and led earlier advances including WaveNet and DQN. Pichai framed the move as confidence in the DeepMind executive team to continue spearheading developments, adding that “Gemini models are in good hands” with Kavukcuoglu and the GDM leadership team as they prepare for upcoming releases, including a reference to “Gemini 4.”

Pichai and Hassabis also discussed a broader set of model and product updates to underscore that DeepMind is not only focused on research. Hassabis wrote that DeepMind has “strong momentum,” with Flash in high demand, a “Cyber model” described as live, and Gemma models having surpassed 900M+ downloads. He also said the lab is focused on improving areas where it needs to get better and emphasized the pace of upcoming model releases.

The message further highlighted role transitions involving Jeff Dean, a longtime senior executive at Google. Pichai said after 27 years with the company, Dean is at a point where he wants to try something new. Pichai and Dean, together with Google Senior Fellow Sanjay Ghemawat, are described as launching an independent public benefit corporation intended to accelerate discoveries in machine learning, science, and engineering. Pichai said Dean and Ghemawat helped drive “significant technology transitions,” from early search infrastructure to the neural networks that enabled much of the modern AI era, and that Alphabet will continue working with them as a founding investor and Cloud partner, including collaborating on a research framework for machine learning systems and related infrastructure advances.

While the internal announcement clarifies new titles and major responsibility areas, it does not provide details on what changes, if any, will occur to DeepMind’s org chart beyond Hassabis’s chair and chief scientist roles, Kavukcuoglu’s SVP leadership, and Dean’s departure from operational duties at DeepMind. The note also does not specify timelines for how quickly the leadership changes will take effect, nor does it detail any budget shifts, headcount impacts, or governance mechanics for how AGI and science priorities will be measured. The references to specific models and initiatives, such as Flash, Cyber, Gemma, and the “Gemini Robotics” update, are presented as progress markers rather than full technical or financial disclosures.

For Alphabet, the strategy implications are straightforward: giving Hassabis a more top-level scientific mandate and moving day-to-day DeepMind operational leadership to Kavukcuoglu could help the company keep its research narrative aligned with product delivery. It also indicates that leadership focus at DeepMind is being treated as a portfolio of tracks, including frontier model development, developer-facing Gemini experiences, and longer-horizon AGI-oriented research. What to watch next is how these responsibilities map onto near-term model release planning, and whether Dean’s new public benefit corporation and Alphabet’s stated Cloud partnership expand the company’s collaboration footprint in external AI research.