Barret Zoph, co-founder of the artificial intelligence startup Thinking Machines Lab, announced on August 26, 2026, that he will join Google DeepMind, an Alphabet-owned unit, as Vice President of Research. Zoph previously served as Vice President of Research at OpenAI and briefly returned there earlier this year after leaving Thinking Machines Lab.

Zoph has a six-year history with Google, having worked as a research scientist in Google Brain, which merged with DeepMind in 2023 to form Google DeepMind. His move to DeepMind comes amid a series of AI-related leadership changes, including the recent stepping aside of DeepMind CEO Dennis Hassabis.

Earlier in August 2026, during an all-hands meeting, Alphabet revealed that some teams were transitioning from DeepMind to corporate Google, signaling a broader reshuffle within the company’s AI operations, according to a Reuters report citing two sources.

This appointment highlights Alphabet’s ongoing efforts to restructure and strengthen its AI research capabilities within its various units.

Sources