Two Senior Google AI Researchers Leave for OpenAI and Anthropic

Noam Shazeer, co-lead of Google’s Gemini models and co-inventor of the Transformer architecture, left the company earlier this month to join OpenAI. Days later, John Jumper, a Google DeepMind researcher who shared the Nobel Prize for AlphaFold work, announced his departure for Anthropic. The two exits occurred in June 2026.

Google acquired DeepMind in 2014 and kept the lab in London, allowing it to operate with significant independence. Venture capitalist Jason Lemkin, known as the Godfather of SaaS, discussed the moves on a recent episode of the 20VC podcast. He said top researchers now prioritize the ability to work on problems they choose with fewer constraints over compensation alone.

"When I talk to folks at the bleeding edge of AI, that’s just so appealing," Lemkin said. He noted that Google once attracted elite talent by offering such an environment but faces new pressures to integrate research with product goals. Lemkin added that OpenAI and Anthropic may currently provide more latitude for researchers focused on foundational questions.