# Google DeepMind leadership reshuffle: Demis Hassabis steps aside, Koray Kavukcuoglu takes helm

> Google DeepMind is shaking up its top ranks. Demis Hassabis, the researcher who has led the lab for years, is moving into a chairman role and adding the title of chief scientist for Alphabet, while continuing to run the drug-discovery spinoff Isomorphic Labs. Taking over as chief executive is Koray Kavukcuoglu, a longtime DeepMind researcher who will now report directly to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and oversee Gemini model development and frontier research. The timing is telling. The reshuffle comes as Gemini 3.5 Pro is reported to be running months behind schedule, and as Google works to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic despite pouring enormous resources into AI. Leadership changes at this level are rarely just about org charts. Putting a model-building researcher directly under Pichai signals that Google wants tighter, faster execution on Gemini, and that the pressure at the frontier of AI is now reshaping even its most storied lab.

_Section: [Daily AI Updates](https://www.wortins.com/daily-ai) · Source: Axios · Published Thursday, August 13, 2026_

## Wortins' read

Google DeepMind is shaking up its top ranks. Demis Hassabis, the researcher who has led the lab for years, is moving into a chairman role and adding the title of chief scientist for Alphabet, while continuing to run the drug-discovery spinoff Isomorphic Labs. Taking over as chief executive is Koray Kavukcuoglu, a longtime DeepMind researcher who will now report directly to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and oversee Gemini model development and frontier research. The timing is telling. The reshuffle comes as Gemini 3.5 Pro is reported to be running months behind schedule, and as Google works to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic despite pouring enormous resources into AI. Leadership changes at this level are rarely just about org charts. Putting a model-building researcher directly under Pichai signals that Google wants tighter, faster execution on Gemini, and that the pressure at the frontier of AI is now reshaping even its most storied lab.

## Source

[Read the full story at Axios](https://www.axios.com/2026/08/05/google-deepmind-demis-hassabis-ai)

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