# Why DeepMind researchers are leaving Google for AI rivals

> Four senior Google DeepMind researchers left for Anthropic and OpenAI in one week of June 2026.

*A single week of departures — a Transformer co-author and a Nobel laureate among them — shows how pre-IPO equity and compute politics are redrawing the frontier-lab map.*

By WireRead Editorial · WireRead
Canonical: https://wireread.com/news/google-deepmind-talent-exodus

In the space of a single week in June 2026, Google's artificial-intelligence division lost four of its most senior researchers to its two fiercest rivals. The names carry unusual weight: one co-invented the Transformer, the architecture beneath nearly every modern large language model; another holds a Nobel Prize. Individually, each exit is a story. Compressed into seven days, they read as a structural signal about where frontier talent now believes the value — and the equity — is accumulating.

## Who left, and where they went

The most symbolically loaded departure is **Noam Shazeer**, a co-author of *Attention Is All You Need*, who is heading to **OpenAI**; the move was announced on 18 June. Two days later, **John Jumper** — a DeepMind director and, since 2024, a Nobel laureate in chemistry for the AlphaFold protein-structure breakthrough — confirmed a move to **Anthropic**. Then, on 24 June, Bloomberg reported that two further researchers, **Jonas Adler** and **Alexander Pritzel**, were also bound for Anthropic. A fifth, **Arthur Conmy**, said on X that he would join Anthropic to work on AI safety.

- Noam Shazeer — Transformer co-author — to OpenAI (announced 18 June 2026)
- John Jumper — DeepMind director, 2024 Nobel chemistry laureate for AlphaFold — to Anthropic (20 June)
- Jonas Adler — worked on Google's AI coding — to Anthropic
- Alexander Pritzel — pretraining and an AlphaFold contributor — to Anthropic
- Arthur Conmy — Gemini 2.5 and AI-coding — to Anthropic, on AI safety (said on X)

> Google is poised to lose two more high-profile AI staffers, Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel, to Anthropic — adding to a run of defections from its AI ranks.
> — [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-24/google-poised-to-lose-two-more-high-profile-ai-staffers-to-anthropic), 2026-06-24

The exits are not all immediate. Jumper may not begin at Anthropic until 2027, held back by the non-compete terms that apply to DeepMind leadership — a reminder that a headline departure and an actual desk change can be many months apart, and that Google retains some contractual friction even as the announcements land.

## Why the frontier is pulling them

The clearest incentive is money that has not yet been minted. Anthropic recently raised **$65 billion at a $965 billion valuation**, making it the world's most valuable private AI company — ahead of OpenAI — and both labs are widely seen as approaching public listings. For a researcher weighing a move, pre-IPO equity at that scale is a lever Google's public stock cannot easily match. A Nobel laureate and a Transformer author are not leaving for a title; they are leaving for a cap table before the offering.

Compensation is not the whole story. Reporting points to internal DeepMind tensions — compute allocated to one of Shazeer's projects was reassigned to a London team before he left — alongside strategic fit. Anthropic is expanding aggressively into coding, health and science, precisely the areas where Jumper (protein science), Adler (AI coding) and Pritzel (pretraining) do their strongest work. The pull is as much about mission surface area as about the cheque.

> **Key:** The causal thread: pre-IPO equity supplies the incentive, internal compute politics supply the friction, and Anthropic's push into coding, health and science supplies the fit. Three forces, one week, four departures.

> The researchers' moves are widely read as a bet on pre-IPO equity: Anthropic's roughly $965 billion valuation and both labs' proximity to public listings make the upside hard to match from inside Google.
> — [Inc](https://www.inc.com/moses-jeanfrancois/why-google-just-lost-4-key-staffers-to-anthropic-and-openai/91365820), 2026-06-24

## What it costs Google

The market registered the risk quickly. **Alphabet shares fell roughly 5-6% on 22 June**, with analysts tying the drop to a combination of heavy AI-spend concerns and questions about talent retention. Losing four decorated researchers in a week is not, by itself, a capability collapse — but it is the kind of signal that reprices a narrative about who is winning the frontier.

Google's leadership pushed back directly. Speaking at an event in Cannes, DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis argued that talent moves in every direction between the leading labs and that Google still wins its share, framing its research depth as a durable advantage rather than a leaking asset. The honest read sits between the two claims: bench depth is real, but so is the pattern of marginal, high-signal exits.

> Hassabis said there is a lot of talent movement between all the leading labs and that Google wins its fair share of the top talent, adding that it has by far the biggest and broadest research bench of any lab.
> — [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/24/ai-researchers-continue-to-leave-google-for-its-rivals/), 2026-06-24

## Key takeaways

- Noam Shazeer, a co-author of the 2017 'Attention Is All You Need' Transformer paper, left Google for OpenAI, announced 18 June 2026.
- John Jumper — a DeepMind director and 2024 Nobel chemistry laureate for AlphaFold — is moving to Anthropic, though non-competes may delay his start to 2027.
- Bloomberg reported that Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel are also bound for Anthropic; a fifth, Arthur Conmy, said on X he would join to work on AI safety.
- Anthropic's recent $65B raise at a $965B valuation — the world's most valuable private AI company, ahead of OpenAI — makes pre-IPO equity a central pull.
- Alphabet shares fell roughly 5-6% on 22 June on AI-spend and talent-retention concerns; Demis Hassabis said Google retains the broadest research bench of any lab.

## FAQ

### Who left Google DeepMind in June 2026?
Noam Shazeer went to OpenAI; John Jumper, Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel went to Anthropic. Arthur Conmy also said he would join Anthropic on AI safety.

### Why are researchers leaving Google for Anthropic and OpenAI?
The main pull is pre-IPO equity — Anthropic raised $65B at a $965B valuation — alongside internal DeepMind compute tensions and strategic fit in coding, health and science.

### How did the departures affect Alphabet's stock?
Alphabet shares fell roughly 5-6% on 22 June 2026, with the drop tied to AI-spend and talent-retention concerns rather than any single product miss.

### When will John Jumper start at Anthropic?
Reporting suggests he may not start until 2027 because of non-compete terms that apply to DeepMind leadership, so his desk change lags the June announcement.

### What did Google say about the departures?
Demis Hassabis said in Cannes that talent moves between all leading labs, that Google wins its fair share, and that it still has the broadest research bench.

## Sources

- [AI researchers continue to leave Google for its rivals](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/24/ai-researchers-continue-to-leave-google-for-its-rivals/) — TechCrunch, 2026-06-24
- [Google Poised to Lose Two More High-Profile AI Staffers to Anthropic](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-24/google-poised-to-lose-two-more-high-profile-ai-staffers-to-anthropic) — Bloomberg, 2026-06-24
- [Why Google Just Lost 4 Key Staffers to Anthropic and OpenAI](https://www.inc.com/moses-jeanfrancois/why-google-just-lost-4-key-staffers-to-anthropic-and-openai/91365820) — Inc, 2026-06-24