{"slug": "ai-researchers-continue-to-leave-google-for-its-rivals", "title": "AI researchers continue to leave Google for its rivals", "summary": "Top AI researchers Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel are leaving Google for Anthropic, following a wave of high-profile departures including Noam Shazeer to OpenAI and Nobel laureate John Jumper to Anthropic. The exodus threatens Google's AI leadership as rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic prepare for IPOs and use equity to attract talent.", "body_md": "Top AI researchers Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel are leaving Google for Anthropic, according to [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-24/google-poised-to-lose-two-more-high-profile-ai-staffers-to-anthropic). Per the report, Adler and Pritzel played key roles in the development of Google’s Gemini model.\n\nTechCrunch reached out to Google for comment.\n\nThese departures are part of a concerning trend for Google. Last week, legendary AI researcher [Noam Shazeer](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/02/character-ai-ceo-noam-shazeer-returns-to-google/) [announced](https://x.com/NoamShazeer/status/2067400851438932297) that he was [leaving Google](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/18/openai-is-bringing-on-some-big-guns-in-the-lead-up-to-its-ipo/) for OpenAI. Shazeer had been at Google since 2000, save for the three years he spent building his [controversial](https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/07/google-and-character-ai-negotiate-first-major-settlements-in-teen-chatbot-death-cases/) chatbot startup, Character.AI (which Google effectively acquihired for $2.7 billion, in part to bring Shazeer back to work on Gemini).\n\nJust days after Shazeer made his announcement, Google DeepMind Director [John Jumper](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/20/nobel-laureate-john-jumper-is-leaving-deepmind-for-rival-anthropic/) said he was leaving Google for Anthropic. Alongside DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Jumper won the 2024 [Nobel Prize in Chemistry](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/09/deepminds-demis-hassabis-and-john-jumper-scoop-nobel-prize-in-chemistry-for-alphafold/) for his work on AlphaFold, which can predict 3D protein structures from animo acid sequences.\n\nAs OpenAI and Anthropic [prepare to go public](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/14/as-ai-companies-race-to-go-public-who-else-is-along-for-the-ride/), this trend could continue — it’s a great time for the companies to recruit top AI talent with a promise of equity.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-researchers-continue-to-leave-google-for-its-rivals", "canonical_source": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/24/ai-researchers-continue-to-leave-google-for-its-rivals/", "published_at": "2026-06-24 21:42:07+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-24 21:53:17.717334+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-research", "ai-startups", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Google", "Anthropic", "OpenAI", "Jonas Adler", "Alexander Pritzel", "Noam Shazeer", "John Jumper", "DeepMind"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-researchers-continue-to-leave-google-for-its-rivals", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-researchers-continue-to-leave-google-for-its-rivals.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-researchers-continue-to-leave-google-for-its-rivals.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-researchers-continue-to-leave-google-for-its-rivals.jsonld"}}