AI researchers continue to leave Google for its rivals
Quick Answer
AI researchers Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel are leaving Google for Anthropic, following notable exits of scientists Noam Shazeer and John Jumper.
Quick Take
This trend highlights a growing talent shift in the AI landscape, potentially impacting Google's competitive edge in AI development.
Key Points
- Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel are the latest researchers to leave Google.
- Their departure follows exits from prominent scientists like Noam Shazeer.
- This trend may weaken Google's position in the AI research community.
- Anthropic is actively recruiting top talent from Google.
- The shift reflects a competitive AI landscape among tech giants.
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Top AI researchers Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel are leaving Google for Anthropic, according to Bloomberg. Per the report, Adler and Pritzel played key roles in the development of Google’s Gemini model.
TechCrunch reached out to Google for comment.
These departures are part of a concerning trend for Google. Last week, legendary AI researcher Noam Shazeer announced that he was leaving Google for OpenAI. Shazeer had been at Google since 2000, save for the three years he spent building his controversial chatbot startup, Character.AI (which Google effectively acqui-hired for $2.7 billion, in part to bring Shazeer back to work on Gemini).
Just days after Shazeer made his announcement, Google DeepMind director John Jumper said he was leaving Google for Anthropic. Alongside DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Jumper won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on AlphaFold, which can predict 3D protein structures from animo acid sequences.
As OpenAI and Anthropic prepare to go public, this trend could continue — it’s a great time for the companies to recruit top AI talent with a promise of equity.
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