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Google Loses Two More Gemini Researchers as Talent Flows to Anthropic

Reports say lucrative pre‑IPO equity at startups followed by Google’s reassignment of computing resources are driving the departures and could shift where frontier model work and financial gains concentrate.

Noam Shazeer is leaving Google to join OpenAI.
Google Loses Top AI Talent to Anthropic
Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc., during a meeting of the White House Task Force on AI Education in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. The White House has been actively promoting artificial intelligence and domestic manufacturing, with recent announcements including a plan to reduce regulation of artificial intelligence and support for leading AI chipmakers. Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg
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Overview

  • Thursday reports say Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel, both key contributors to Google’s Gemini models, plan to leave Google to join Anthropic.
  • Their planned moves follow recent exits by Noam Shazeer to OpenAI and Nobel laureate John Jumper to Anthropic, extending a wave of high‑profile departures from Google.
  • Reporters and analysts point to the chance for large pre‑IPO equity grants at Anthropic and OpenAI as a primary financial incentive for elite researchers to leave a public company with predictable RSUs.
  • Coverage cites internal friction at Google, including the reassignment of compute power away from some projects, as a practical factor that reduced researchers’ access to the resources they need.
  • Investors reacted modestly, Alphabet shares slipped, and DeepMind leadership has acknowledged intense hiring competition, raising the prospect that cutting‑edge model development and upside could concentrate at well‑funded startups.