Google (GOOG, GOOGL) announced a major shakeup in its AI-focused DeepMind organization on Wednesday.
CEO Demis Hassabis is transitioning to a new role as chair of DeepMind and chief scientist for all of Alphabet.
DeepMind CTO and Google chief AI architect Koray Kavukcuoglu will step into the role of SVP for DeepMind and report directly to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
Google’s stock fell nearly 4% on the news.
In addition to those moves, Google chief scientist Jeff Dean, along with Google senior fellow Sanjay Ghemawat are leaving the company and founding their own independent public benefit corporation called Discovery Loop.
In a post on X, Dean said Discovery Loop’s mission is to “automate machine learning, science, and engineering to accelerate discoveries and progress.”
Google stock has benefited from its strong AI growth, with the company reporting sales increased a whopping 82% year over year in its most recent quarter, jumping to $24.77 billion. That easily outpaced analysts’ expectations of $24.56 billion and well ahead of the $13.6 billion it brought in last year.
Shares of Google are up 86% over the last 12 months and 15% year to date, easily outperforming rivals Amazon, which is up 28% over the last year and Microsoft, which is down more than 8% during that timeframe.
But Google is also facing some difficulties with its latest Gemini model. According to Bloomberg, the company delayed its Gemini 3.5 Pro in July in an effort to improve its capabilities in areas like coding.
And during its latest earnings report, the company increased its planned capital expenditures for the year to between $195 billion and $205 billion, up from its prior estimate of $180 billion to $190 billion. Analysts were expecting $186.4 billion.
That’s sent shares plunging more than 6% at the time, but they’ve since recovered those losses.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on X at @DanielHowley.
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