Google is making a major change to how it develops and commercialises artificial intelligence, and the latest leadership reshuffle suggests one thing is now clear: Gemini has become the company’s central priority in the race against OpenAI and Anthropic.The shift comes as Google faces renewed pressure to improve Gemini’s performance. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has reportedly been pushing AI staff to focus more aggressively on the model, while Google DeepMind is undergoing a leadership transition that gives its commercial AI efforts a stronger connection to the wider company.About The AuthorJournalist and a writer with a strong interest in news, culture, technology, and human-interest stories. Passionate about making complex topics accessible and engaging.The changes also raise a bigger question about Google DeepMind: is the company gradually sacrificing the research lab’s independence in its pursuit of faster AI progress and revenue?Google DeepMind’s leadership changes put Gemini firstOn August 5, Google announced a sweeping leadership overhaul at Google DeepMind. Demis Hassabis, who has led the AI division, moved into the role of chair, reducing his management responsibilities. His deputy, Koray Kavukcuoglu, has taken over the division.At the same time, Gemini's original technical co-leads, Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals, left the company to co-found a startup.The restructuring was followed by an all-hands meeting on August 6, where employees were told that some teams would move out of DeepMind and into Google's corporate structure.While Hassabis and Kavukcuoglu reportedly told employees that day-to-day work at DeepMind would largely remain unchanged, the changes represent a further shift towards integrating the AI lab with Google's broader commercial operations.Kavukcuoglu will continue in his role of overseeing Gemini, which he was already doing for more than a year now. His prominence began when Google CEO Sundar Pichai named him head of AI in 2025, with the task of integrating Gemini into all Google’s products.More articles by AuthorTrending StoriesPeople close to the matter have revealed that the influence of some of DeepMind’s leaders in steering the course of Gemini became less prominent after Kavukcuoglu gained prominence in decision-making regarding the model.Sergey Brin is pushing Google to catch upThe reshuffle comes alongside renewed involvement from Sergey Brin.Despite Brin’s lack of an executive role at Google, he has apparently become more active in the company’s AI initiatives. During an April town hall meeting with hundreds of employees, Brin told DeepMind that it should be moving more quickly, as its competitors developed their AI models.People familiar with his remarks said Brin has, for several months, been telling key AI employees that Google needs to catch up with the frontier.His involvement reportedly extends to resource allocation, including areas such as recursive self-improvement, where AI systems could potentially improve themselves with less human intervention.This is not the first time Brin has become more active in Google's AI efforts. He reportedly stepped up his involvement after OpenAI's ChatGPT launch in 2022 forced Google to confront the speed at which the generative AI market was developing.Gemini's lead has not lastedGoogle's urgency is partly explained by Gemini's changing position in the AI race.The company briefly moved ahead of competitors following the release of Gemini 3 last November. However, subsequent advances from Anthropic and OpenAI again left Google trying to catch up.The situation became more challenging when Google reportedly delayed its next flagship Gemini model by two months after internal testing showed that it was still behind rivals in areas including coding.People familiar with Gemini's development pointed to several structural problems inside Google. Limited computing capacity, disagreements among different Gemini project leaders and the company's bureaucracy reportedly slowed development and left some important areas, including coding, with fewer resources.The problem is therefore not simply about building a better model. Google's challenge is also organisational: it needs to make decisions and release improvements quickly enough to compete with companies that can move faster.DeepMind's autonomy faces another testThis is where the latest restructuring becomes particularly significant.DeepMind was acquired by Google in 2014 and historically operated with considerable independence, allowing researchers to pursue projects beyond Google's immediate commercial priorities.That autonomy appears to have been gradually reduced as Gemini became increasingly important to Google's products and business.The latest restructuring takes that process further. Moving some nontechnical teams from DeepMind into Google's corporate reporting structure could make the organisation more closely aligned with Google's commercial priorities.The departure of senior technical figures such as Dean and Vinyals adds another layer of uncertainty. Some teams reporting to those leaders reportedly had significant freedom to work on research that was not directly related to training Gemini.Google has not immediately explained what will happen to all of those teams and projects, leaving some employees concerned that research outside Gemini could receive less attention.Kavukcuoglu becomes the key figureThe rise of Kavukcuoglu is arguably the most important part of the reshuffle.After moving from London to Mountain View last year, he became chief AI architect and reported directly to Pichai. He also developed closer links with Google Cloud, which is central to the company's AI revenue strategy.Unlike a structure where DeepMind's research priorities and Google's commercial goals operate at a distance, Kavukcuoglu's expanded role places those interests much closer together.He will now have final say over major decisions for DeepMind, according to a Google spokesperson cited in the report.His appointment could also help resolve tensions over Google's limited supply of Tensor Processing Units, or TPUs, which are crucial for training and running AI models.The bigger picture: Google wants AI supremacy, not just AI researchThese developments hint at even greater shifts at Google.In the past, DeepMind was mostly known for its large-scale and visionary research on artificial intelligence. Today, Gemini lies at the heart of Google's product development strategy in terms of consumer, cloud and enterprise AI.Thus, performance is becoming an ever-more crucial factor. Google will not have the luxury of treating Gemini merely as a research project when its competitors make rapid advances in their own AI projects.The downside, however, is that the more commercially-oriented Google becomes, the less research freedom there is to be expected from DeepMind.From Google's perspective, the logic seems to be clear: Gemini has to become faster, more powerful and applicable to more products. The recent leadership changes, the renewed participation of Brin in AI projects and the growing role of Kavukcuoglu all suggest that. FAQsWhy is Google reshuffling its AI leadership?The reshuffle comes as Google tries to accelerate Gemini's development and close the gap with rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic. The company is putting greater emphasis on Gemini's performance, development speed and integration across its products.What has changed at Google DeepMind?Demis Hassabis has stepped away from his main management role and become chair, while Koray Kavukcuoglu has taken over day-to-day leadership of Google DeepMind. Kavukcuoglu will also continue overseeing Gemini.What role is Sergey Brin playing in Google's AI strategy?Although Brin no longer has an executive position, he has reportedly been pushing key AI employees to move faster on Gemini. He has also been involved in discussions around areas such as recursive self-improvement.Why is Gemini under pressure?Gemini briefly moved ahead of competing models last November, but subsequent advances from Anthropic and OpenAI put Google back in catch-up mode. The company has also reportedly delayed its next flagship Gemini model after internal testing showed it lagging rivals in areas including coding.What does Koray Kavukcuoglu's expanded role mean for Gemini?Kavukcuoglu has become a central figure in shaping Gemini's direction. Google CEO Sundar Pichai had previously appointed him as chief AI architect to help embed Gemini across Google's products. He now has expanded authority over Google DeepMind and Gemini development.end of article