Sir Demis Hassabis is stepping down as chief executive of Google DeepMind, transitioning to the role of chair. He will also serve as chief scientist for parent company Alphabet.

Koray Kavukcuoglu, Hassabis' former lieutenant, will lead the London-based AI lab as senior vice-president. This shift suggests DeepMind will be further integrated into Google's broader business. Longtime Google employee Jeff Dean is departing to start his own venture, backed by Google.

Hassabis stated he is stepping back from daily management to focus on the "big picture" and the development of "artificial general intelligence" (AGI), which he believes is "close at hand." He emphasized the critical importance of making the right next steps for humanity's future.