Alphabet shares slid 7% Monday morning following the departures of two high-profile artificial intelligence researchers to rival companies in recent days. Noam Shazeer, Google's vice president of engineering and co-lead of its Gemini AI models, announced Wednesday he was leaving for OpenAI, while DeepMind VP John Jumper announced Friday he was joining Anthropic after nine years at the company. The stock decline reflects mounting investor concerns about Google's ability to retain top AI talent amid heavy spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure, with the company having raised $141 billion in debt and equity since October.
Shazeer Departs for OpenAI Less Than Two Years After Returning
Noam Shazeer announced Wednesday he was leaving Google to join OpenAI. The departure came less than two years after he returned to Google in August 2024, when the company brought him and fellow researcher Daniel De Freitas back to its DeepMind AI unit as part of a partnership with startup Character.AI. Shazeer and De Freitas had founded Character.AI after leaving Google in 2021. The exit occurred weeks after Google unveiled new AI products at its annual I/O developer conference, including its Gemini 3.5 Flash model and Gemini Spark AI agent.
Nobel Laureate Jumper Joins Anthropic After Nine Years
John Jumper, DeepMind VP and engineering fellow, announced Friday he was leaving Google for Anthropic. Jumper won a Nobel prize in 2024 alongside Google's Demis Hassabis and is best known as the co-creator of AlphaFold, a breakthrough AI that has predicted over 200 million protein structures, cutting years off biological and medical research.
Investor Concerns Mount Over AI Spending and Talent Retention
The share slide came on the heels of a Sunday Wall Street Journal interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who called for less dependence on "AI Giants" and said the AI market was commoditized. Alphabet has been spending heavily on AI, raising $141 billion in debt and equity since October. The company has been trying to prove that its vertically integrated AI stack can generate returns. Google users on Monday also reported outages on Gmail and YouTube.
FAQ
Why did Alphabet shares decline on Monday morning?
Alphabet shares slid 7% Monday morning following the departures of two high-profile AI researchers—Noam Shazeer to OpenAI and John Jumper to Anthropic—in recent days, raising investor concerns about the company's ability to retain top AI talent.
When did Noam Shazeer return to Google before leaving for OpenAI?
Google brought Noam Shazeer back to its DeepMind AI unit in August 2024 as part of a partnership with Character.AI, less than two years before he announced his departure for OpenAI on Wednesday.
What is John Jumper known for at Google DeepMind?
John Jumper is best known as the co-creator of AlphaFold, a breakthrough AI that has predicted over 200 million protein structures, and he won a Nobel prize in 2024 alongside Google's Demis Hassabis.
