Barret Zoph Named VP of Research at DeepMind
Barret Zoph, co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab, is joining Google DeepMind as Vice President of Research. He previously served as OpenAI’s VP of Research and earlier spent six years at Google Brain, with Google Brain merging into DeepMind in 2023. His move comes amid a wave of AI leadership reshuffles at the company, including Demis Hassabis stepping aside and some teams reportedly moving from DeepMind to Google’s corporate structure. Zoph’s reinforcement learning expertise is highlighted as a strategic asset for Google’s Gemini project. Some reports note that Zoph briefly returned to OpenAI after leaving Thinking Machines earlier this year. Coverage of the development comes from Reuters and other outlets, including Inshorts, SRN News, and GuruFocus.
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