← Front page

The Artificial Intelligence Show · Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Jeff Dean Departs Google After 27 Years to Found AI Startup 'Discovery Loop'

Jeff Dean, Google's Chief Scientist for Google DeepMind and Google Research, is leaving the company after 27 years to found a new startup called Discovery Loop. The company will be a public benefit corporation focused on automating machine learning, science, and engineering to accelerate discoveries. He is co-founding it with several former Googlers, including Sanjeev Movat and Oriel Vinals.

personJeff DeanpersonSanjeev G MovatpersonOriel VinalspersonColette LeecompanyGooglecompanyGoogle DeepMindcompanyDiscovery Loop

The tape

3 quotes
So separately, on top of all this, Jeff Dean, Chief Scientist across Google DeepMind and Google research, said his last day would be the following day after he posted this past week. He didn't give us too much notice. He ended 27 years at Google, a 10-year during which he played a starring role in some of Google's biggest initiatives. It's hard to overstate how critical Jeff Dean has been. He helped create the first Google ad system. He helped launch Google News and Translate. He started the TPU program and co-founded Google Brain among dozens of other things.
Paul
So Dean is actually now founding a startup called Discovery Loop, which is a public benefit corporation, and he's doing it with a handful of now X-Googlers, including Google Senior Fellow Sanjeev G Movat, Oriel Vinals, who co-led Gemini and Colette Lee, a Google Brain co-founder.
Paul
Dean said the mission of the startup of the company is to automate machine learning, science and engineering to accelerate discoveries.
Paul
Heard on The Artificial Intelligence Show — “#230: Big Google AI Leadership Shakeups, New Details of OpenAI’s Agent Hack, White House AI Framework & OpenAI’s Astra Model Delayed, published Tuesday, August 11, 2026. Heardvine summarizes and quotes with attribution and timestamps, and links to the original everywhere.
Transcribed via Gemini audio transcription · $0.07
Jeff Dean Departs Google After 27 Years to Found AI Startup 'Discovery Loop' — Heardvine