Google co-founder Sergey Brin has been urging key artificial intelligence staff to focus intensely on the company’s Gemini model as Alphabet works to regain momentum against rivals, according to people familiar with his remarks.
At an April town hall, Brin told hundreds of employees that Google DeepMind needed to move faster as competitors such as Anthropic and OpenAI advanced their AI models. Gemini briefly surpassed rival systems last year, but newer releases have again put Google under pressure. The company has also delayed its next flagship Gemini model by about two months after internal testing showed weaknesses, particularly in coding, according to people familiar with the matter.
The pressure has coincided with a major leadership overhaul. On Aug. 5, Google announced that Demis Hassabis would step aside as head of Google DeepMind and become chairman, while his deputy, Koray Kavukcuoglu, would take over day-to-day leadership. At the same time, the two original technical co-leads of Gemini left Google to launch a startup.
The restructuring reflects Alphabet’s growing emphasis on turning Gemini into a commercial engine across its products. During an Aug. 6 all-hands meeting, employees were told that some teams would move from DeepMind into Google’s corporate organization, according to sources.
The changes also represent a further reduction in DeepMind’s independence since Google acquired the London-based AI lab in 2014. Under Hassabis, DeepMind pursued broad AI research while developing Gemini, but some of his decisions had previously clashed with efforts focused on faster commercialization.
Kavukcuoglu’s influence had already expanded after CEO Sundar Pichai appointed him Google’s chief AI architect in 2025, giving him responsibility for integrating Gemini across the company’s products. Several people familiar with the organization said his growing role reduced the influence of some DeepMind leaders and made him increasingly central to Gemini’s strategy.
Kavukcuoglu moved from London to Mountain View for the chief AI architect role and became a key point of contact between DeepMind and Google Cloud, Google’s main AI revenue engine. A Google spokesperson revealed that he would now have final say on major decisions for DeepMind.
The leadership changes have also raised concerns among DeepMind employees about the future of the lab’s autonomy. At the August 6 all-hands meeting, Hassabis and Kavukcuoglu sought to reassure staff that day-to-day work at the lab would remain largely unchanged and that Kavukcuoglu would continue overseeing Gemini.
However, the meeting also revealed that several nontechnical teams would be moved out of DeepMind and into Google’s corporate reporting structure, according to sources. The move underscored the company’s push to focus resources on regaining the lead in AI models.
Google’s shakeup comes as Brin has become more involved in AI efforts despite no longer holding an executive position. For several months, he has been telling key staff that Google needs to catch up with the AI frontier, while pushing resources toward areas such as recursive self-improvement, according to people familiar with his efforts.
The pressure comes after Gemini briefly caught up with competitors last November before falling behind again. Sources said lingering structural challenges, including limited computing capacity and disagreements among Gemini’s project leaders, contributed to fewer resources being directed toward areas such as coding.
Google’s bureaucratic structure has also slowed model releases compared with more agile rivals, according to sources. CEO Sundar Pichai has said the company will continue expanding its infrastructure to address constraints involving its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), which are used for AI model training as well as consumer and enterprise products.
The reshuffle is also expected to affect relations between DeepMind and Google’s cloud division. A source said senior cloud executives expect Kavukcuoglu’s appointment to help ease tensions over the allocation of Google’s limited supply of TPUs.
The changes have reinforced concerns that DeepMind’s broad research mission could give way to a stronger commercial focus as Alphabet seeks to strengthen Gemini and compete more aggressively with Anthropic and OpenAI.
