Google is shifting control of its AI effort from London back to Silicon Valley, consolidating power under co‑founder Sergey Brin as the company pushes to commercialise its Gemini models and close the gap with rivals.

Demis Hassabis, who founded DeepMind and led the merged Google DeepMind unit, will step back from day‑to‑day management to become Alphabet’s chief scientist and chair of Google DeepMind. Koray Kavukcuoglu, former DeepMind CTO, takes over daily operations of the lab and Gemini development from a desk beside Brin. The $4.4tn company had grown frustrated with Hassabis’s research‑first culture, highlighted by the free release of the Nobel‑winning AlphaFold system, which generated little commercial return.

The overhaul reflects mounting commercial pressure from OpenAI and Anthropic, a wave of senior‑talent departures—including veteran Jeff Dean—and investor anxiety that sent Alphabet shares down 5 %.

Hassabis plans to focus on long‑term research and his drug‑discovery venture Isomorphic Labs, while Brin re‑engages actively in AI strategy. Sundar Pichai framed the changes as necessary to accelerate product delivery amid intensifying competition. Yann LeCun, former Meta AI chief, noted that Hassabis can now pursue his unique research vision without managerial duties.