Google has announced significant changes to its artificial intelligence leadership, with Google DeepMind head Demis Hassabis taking on expanded responsibilities across Alphabet.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said Hassabis will become Chair of Google DeepMind and Chief Scientist at Alphabet.
Hassabis will continue to lead Isomorphic Labs, Alphabet's AI drug discovery company, while working with Pichai on strategic and global artificial general intelligence (AGI) matters.
In a message to staff, Hassabis said he believes healthcare remains the most important application of artificial intelligence.
"As you've heard me say many times, I've always believed the No. 1 application of AI should be to improve human health," he said.
"It's time for AI to prove its unequivocal value to the world, and what better way to demonstrate that than to help finally cure diseases like cancer."
Koray Kavukcuoglu, formerly Chief Technology Officer of Google DeepMind, has been promoted to Senior Vice President of DeepMind and will report directly to Pichai. He will also continue serving as Google's Chief AI Architect.
Google also announced the departure of veteran engineer Jeff Dean, who served as Chief Scientist of Google DeepMind, and Google Fellow Sanjay Ghemawat.
The pair are launching a new AI-focused public benefit corporation called Discovery Loop, with Google joining as a founding investor.
According to its website, Discovery Loop aims to build AI systems capable of solving complex problems in machine learning, science and engineering.
"Our mission is straightforward: we are building AI solutions that can automatically solve important problems in machine learning, science, and engineering," the company said.
It added that its long-term goal is to develop AI systems that improve people's lives by accelerating scientific and engineering breakthroughs.
