Google Reshuffles AI Leadership: Demis Hassabis Named President of DeepMind

Google is undergoing a significant shift in the leadership structure of its artificial intelligence division. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Wednesday a series of changes that directly affect Demis Hassabis, who has until now led Google DeepMind.

A New Role for Demis Hassabis

According to The Verge, Hassabis will become president of Google DeepMind while also taking on the role of chief scientist across all of Alphabet. The move extends his influence well beyond the research lab he has led so far, placing him in a strategic position over the parent company's overall technological direction.

The change does not, however, mean a complete withdrawal from operational work. Hassabis will continue to lead Isomorphic Labs, Alphabet's division dedicated to AI-driven drug discovery — a project he has actively championed in recent years and one considered among the company's key long-term bets.

Who Will Take Over Day-to-Day Leadership

According to the same source, Koray Kavukcuoglu, who has served as DeepMind's chief technology officer, will take on greater leadership responsibilities, likely overseeing the lab's day-to-day operations — a role Hassabis has held until now.

The move comes at a time when Google is under intense pressure from AI competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic to strengthen its position in the generative AI market. The restructuring appears to reflect a strategy in which the company is repositioning its key leaders to meet both research demands and the commercial application of AI.

Context and Implications

Hassabis, a Nobel Prize laureate recognized for his contributions to computational biology through the AlphaFold project, remains one of the most influential figures in the global AI industry. His new role as Alphabet's chief scientist suggests that Google wants to leverage his technical expertise on a broader scale, beyond the boundaries of DeepMind alone.

For now, the company has not provided further details about the exact timeline of the transition or about any additional leadership changes that may follow in the coming period.