Koray Kavukcuoglu assumes leadership of Google DeepMind's day-to-day operations as senior vice president, reporting directly to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. The move positions Kavukcuoglu to close a performance gap with OpenAI and Anthropic that has opened over the past year.
Kavukcuoglu, previously DeepMind's chief technology officer and Google's chief AI architect, replaces cofounder Demis Hassabis, who transitions to organization chair. The leadership shift follows a period of low morale, talent departures and model delays within DeepMind.
Google has not released a frontier AI model since early 2026, while OpenAI and Anthropic have each launched new systems in recent months. Anthropic's Mythos model and OpenAI's GPT-5.6 have drawn recognition for their advanced capabilities.
Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, said the goal is to close gaps with Anthropic and OpenAI in key areas. Wood said Kavukcuoglu's promotion aims to shift Google's AI focus from academic projects toward frontier performance and developer toolsets.
Google acquired DeepMind in 2014. The company fell behind OpenAI after ChatGPT's public release in 2022. Google released Gemini 3 in Nov. 2025, which analysts said moved the frontier forward. Its 2026 releases, including Gemini 3.1 Pro in Feb. have not challenged at the frontier.
Malik Ahmed Khan, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said Google fell behind Anthropic and OpenAI by concentrating on monetizable areas such as Search and multi-modal applications. Khan said Google lost ground in coding—a key commercial use case where both rivals have pulled ahead.
A Google spokesperson said it is inaccurate to suggest the company was distracted from its mission of solving intelligence. The spokesperson said the path to artificial general intelligence involves advancing agents, coding, robotics and world models, and that DeepMind's work across robotics, video, computer use, public policy and research reflects that approach.
Kavukcuoglu joined DeepMind in 2012, before the Google acquisition. He now takes operational control during a stretch of high-profile departures. Jeff Dean, chief scientist of Google DeepMind, is leaving to form a new startup with three other senior Google AI colleagues. Kavukcuoglu will oversee Gemini model development, frontier AI research and the Gemini app and developer teams.
Pichai needs DeepMind's operational leadership centralized and aligned with Google's product priorities—translating scientific output into market-ready systems. Kavukcuoglu's direct reporting line to the CEO is the mechanism for that shift.
