# Why are Google's top AI researchers leaving? A plain-English guide > Four of Google DeepMind's most senior AI researchers left for Anthropic and OpenAI in one June week. *Four big names left Google in a week — here's who they are, where they're going, and why it matters to you.* By The SuggestedTech Team · SuggestedTech Canonical: https://suggestedtech.com/news/why-google-ai-researchers-leaving-explained If you've seen headlines about Google 'losing' its AI stars, here's what actually happened — and why it's a bigger deal than a normal job change. In just one week in June 2026, four of Google's most respected AI researchers announced they were leaving for two rival labs. When people this senior move all at once, it tells you something about where the industry thinks the future is being built. ## What actually happened Think of it as four exits in seven days. **Noam Shazeer** — one of the people who invented the 'Transformer,' the core technology behind modern chatbots — is joining **OpenAI**. **John Jumper**, who shared a 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry for AlphaFold (an AI that predicts protein shapes), is joining **Anthropic**. Two more researchers, **Jonas Adler** and **Alexander Pritzel**, are heading to Anthropic as well, and a fifth, **Arthur Conmy**, said he'll join Anthropic to work on AI safety. - Noam Shazeer → OpenAI — helped invent the Transformer - John Jumper → Anthropic — Nobel winner for AlphaFold - Jonas Adler → Anthropic — worked on AI coding - Alexander Pritzel → Anthropic — worked on model training and AlphaFold - Arthur Conmy → Anthropic — will focus on AI safety > **Info:** In plain English: the simplest way to picture this is a football team losing several star players to a richer club in the same week — the club left behind is still good, but everyone notices who walked out. > Google is set to lose two more high-profile AI staffers, Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel, to Anthropic, on top of other recent departures. > — [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 ## Why did they leave? The biggest reason is money that hasn't been paid out yet. Anthropic recently raised **$65 billion** and is valued at about **$965 billion**, which makes it the most valuable private AI company in the world — even ahead of OpenAI. Both labs may go public soon. If you join before that happens and receive equity (a share of the company), it could become worth a great deal. That's a powerful draw that a public company like Google finds hard to match. There were other reasons, too. Reporting says the computing power for one of Shazeer's projects was moved to a different team in London before he left, which points to some internal friction. And Anthropic is expanding into coding, health and science — areas that match what these researchers do best. So it's a mix of pay, workplace tensions and a good fit for their interests. > The moves are widely seen as a bet on pre-IPO equity, given Anthropic's roughly $965 billion valuation and both labs' closeness to going public. > — [Inc](https://www.inc.com/moses-jeanfrancois/why-google-just-lost-4-key-staffers-to-anthropic-and-openai/91365820), 2026-06-24 ## Does this mean Google is falling behind? Not necessarily. Google's AI chief, Demis Hassabis, said at an event in Cannes that talent moves between all the top labs, that Google wins its fair share, and that it still has by far the biggest and broadest research team of any lab. The stock market was a bit more nervous — Alphabet shares dipped about 5-6% on 22 June — but a share dip and a real decline in ability are not the same thing. > **Key:** The takeaway for you: this is less a sign that Google's AI is worse, and more a sign of how fiercely the top labs are now competing for a small number of star researchers — and how much pre-IPO equity can tip that competition. It's also worth zooming out on what this means for the AI you actually use. When top researchers cluster at one or two labs, the models those labs ship tend to improve faster, because breakthroughs come from small numbers of exceptional people, not headcount alone. So a wave of talent moving to Anthropic and OpenAI could show up, months from now, as noticeably better coding help, science tools or assistants from those companies. It doesn't mean Google's products will get worse — Google still has a deep bench and enormous resources — but it's a hint about where the next round of impressive releases might come from. If you're deciding which AI tools to invest your time learning, watching where the best people go is a surprisingly good signal, and right now that signal points at the two labs racing toward the public markets. ## Key takeaways - Four senior Google DeepMind researchers left in a single June 2026 week — three to Anthropic, one to OpenAI. - One of them, Noam Shazeer, helped invent the Transformer, the technology behind today's chatbots; another, John Jumper, won a 2024 Nobel Prize for AlphaFold. - The biggest reason is pre-IPO equity: Anthropic is valued at about $965B, so joining now could be very valuable if it goes public. - There were other reasons too — internal tensions over computing power, and a strong fit with Anthropic's push into coding, health and science. - Alphabet's share price fell about 5-6% on 22 June, but Google's Demis Hassabis says it still has the deepest research team in AI. ## FAQ ### Who left Google DeepMind, and where did they go? Noam Shazeer joined OpenAI. John Jumper, Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel joined Anthropic, and Arthur Conmy said he'd join Anthropic on AI safety — all in one June 2026 week. ### Why does Noam Shazeer leaving matter so much? He co-invented the Transformer, the technology behind almost every modern AI chatbot, so his move to OpenAI is a symbolic win for a rival lab. ### What is pre-IPO equity, and why does it pull people? It's a share of a company before it goes public. If Anthropic (valued near $965B) lists successfully, that equity could become very valuable — a strong reason to join now. ### Will John Jumper start at Anthropic right away? Probably not. Reporting suggests non-compete rules for DeepMind leaders could delay his start until 2027, even though the move was announced in June 2026. ### Is Google's AI now worse than Anthropic's or OpenAI's? There's no evidence of that. Google still has a huge research team, and Hassabis says it wins its share of talent; losing a few stars is a competition signal, not a verdict. ## 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