Google AI researchers Adler and Pritzel depart for Anthropic amid talent exodus
The movement of key Gemini developers follows recent high-profile exits to OpenAI and Anthropic, coinciding with rivals’ preparations for initial public offerings.
Top artificial intelligence researchers Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel are leaving Google to join Anthropic, according to a report by Bloomberg. The pair played key roles in the development of Google’s Gemini model, marking another significant loss for the tech giant’s AI division. TechCrunch has reached out to Google for comment on the matter.
The departures follow a recent wave of high-profile exits from Google’s AI teams. Last week, Noam Shazeer announced he was leaving for OpenAI. Shazeer had been with Google since 2000, with a three-year break to build the chatbot startup Character.AI, which Google effectively acquihired for $2.7 billion to bring him back to work on Gemini.
Just days after Shazeer’s announcement, John Jumper confirmed he was departing for Anthropic. Jumper served as a Google DeepMind Director and, alongside DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on AlphaFold, a system that predicts 3D protein structures from amino acid sequences.
This talent movement coincides with OpenAI and Anthropic preparing for public listings. The timing suggests that these rivals may be leveraging the opportunity to offer equity incentives to recruit top AI talent as they position themselves for public markets.
The trend has been described as concerning for Google, highlighting the competitive pressure from well-funded competitors. While the specific motivations for each individual departure are not fully detailed, the broader context points to a strategic shift in the AI labour market as private giants prepare for public scrutiny and capital raising.
Experts from the United States and China have recently issued joint warnings regarding the systemic risks of rapid AI development, urging international cooperation to avert potential catastrophic failures. This backdrop of regulatory and ethical concern adds another layer of complexity to the ongoing competition for AI expertise.
Google has not yet provided an official stance on the latest departures. As OpenAI and Anthropic move closer to their public listings, the industry is watching to see if the promise of equity will continue to drive a sustained exodus of senior researchers from established tech firms.
