Hassabis: stepping into a new role as Chair of Google DeepMind & Chief Scientist of Alphabet

Posted about 3.5 minutes after Pichai's announcement on 5 Aug 2026. Hassabis says he has worked towards AGI his whole life and that, "as we enter this pivotal moment", he is taking the role of Chair and Chief Scientist to focus on long-term strategy and on speeding up scientific breakthroughs (including Isomorphic Labs). His note in the joint blog.google memo is blunter: he feels AGI "is close at hand". Fortune later reported low morale, missed Gemini 3.5 Pro deadlines and departures behind the change. Verified via syndication (demishassabis, 2026-08-05T16:04:58Z, ~21k likes). The URL was found embedded in Search Engine Roundtable's article.

I’ve been working towards AGI my whole life, and as we enter this pivotal moment, I’m stepping into a new role as Chair of Google DeepMind & Chief Scientist of Alphabet. This will allow me to focus on long-term strategy, and accelerating scientific breakthroughs, including leaning into my work at Isomorphic to help cure disease.

I’m excited that @koraykv will be stepping up to lead GDM as SVP, alongside @joshwoodward and our exec team. I could not be more excited and confident about our amazing next chapter! 🚀

https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/message-ceo/next-chapter-ai-momentum

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Archived 2026-09-29 via fxtwitter (unofficial).