This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) is facing fresh questions about AI talent losses, but Jefferies says the recent departures are noise rather than a real threat to the Google investment thesis.
Analyst Brent Thill said Alphabet still has one of the longest AI build histories in the industry and a deep research bench, with about 194,668 employees as of Q1 2026, up 5% year over year. He argued that recent exits should be seen as part of a broader AI talent war, not proof that Google is falling behind.
The comments come after Nobel Prize winner John Jumper left Google DeepMind for Anthropic, while Noam Shazeer moved to OpenAI and DeepMind researcher Lun Wang exited in May.
Thill acknowledged that Gemini has tracked more slowly than some frontier AI labs, but said it does not need to be the best model to strengthen Alphabet’s broader business.
For investors, the point is distribution. Jefferies said Google’s reach across Search, Cloud, and Workspace, including 5 apps with 3 billion users, plus its TPU cost advantage, keeps the AI story intact. Thill kept a Buy rating and $445 price target.
