tech
Fortune Archives: The end of an era at Google DeepMind
Seven months ago, Fortune’s Allie Garfinkle found DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis waxing philosophical about the vastness of the universe at London’s UCL Observatory, home of the 164-year-old Fry Telescope. Her fascinating Fortune cover profile portrayed Hassabis—Nobel laureate, founder of the AI drug-design company Isomorphic, and the man steering Google’s AI efforts with Gemini—as less of a corporate executive than a scientist-philosopher.
TL;DR
- DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis is stepping down from his CEO role to become chairman.
- Chief Technology Officer Koray Kavukcuoglu will take over leadership.
- Chief scientist Jeff Dean and several other senior researchers have also departed.
- The departures are described as among the most damaging in DeepMind's history.
- Internal issues include stalled models, missed deadlines, staff burnout, and internal conflicts over defense contracts.
- Some insiders question Google's progress in the AI race.
- Hassabis is described by a former employee as "known but not seen," contrasting with his previous emphasis on fostering creativity.
- Leadership shifts are seen as a move of power from DeepMind's London base to Google's Mountain View headquarters.
- Questions remain about DeepMind's ability to regain its strategic edge under new leadership.