AI researchers continue to leave Google for its rivals

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.

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. TechCrunch reached out to Google for comment. These 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 . Just 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. As 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.