Google announced leadership changes at DeepMind, its top artificial intelligence lab, on Aug 12, 2026. Demis Hassabis is stepping aside as chief to focus on long-term strategy as chair, while Koray Kavukcuoglu will now lead the Gemini AI project. The shake-up came alongside the departure of Gemini's original technical co-leads, who left to launch their own startup. Google hopes these changes will help Gemini catch up with rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic, especially in coding. Some DeepMind teams are being absorbed into Google's main structure, raising employee worries about losing independence and slowing innovation. Leadership says they remain committed to pushing boundaries in AI, but unease exists inside the team.