Alphabet is merging an internal Google Research team called Brain with DeepMind, a move designed to bring two groups focused on artificial intelligence closer together as the battle for AI heats up.
Google acquired DeepMind in 2014 for a reported $500 million and has until now run it as an independent unit out of the U.K. DeepMind has been one of Alphabet’s “other bets,” performing futuristic work, such as teaching computer systems to beat top-ranked players of the Chinese board game Go.
“Combining all this talent into one focused team, backed by the computational resources of Google, will significantly accelerate our progress in AI,” Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in blog post Thursday.
Jeff Dean, who currently leads Google’s AI efforts, will be promoted and given the title of chief scientist at Google, reporting to Pichai. He’ll head up the “most critical and strategic” technical projects related to AI, the first of which will be a series of powerful, multimodal AI models.
The move marks Google’s latest reorganization in response to the rapid developments in AI, following OpenAI’s launch of the chatbot ChatGPT late last year. CNBC previously reported that Google reshuffled its Assistant organization to prioritize the company’s AI chatbot Bard.
“The pace of progress is now faster than ever before,” Pichai wrote. “To ensure the bold and responsible development of general AI, we’re creating a unit that will help us build more capable systems more safely and responsibly.”
DeepMind has been able to operate separately from Google’s core research, enabling it to move quicker on breakthroughs such as AlphaFold, which can predict 3D models of protein structures. The two divisions, DeepMind and Google Research, have also reportedly had tensions in the past, leading DeepMind to seek more independence.
DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis will lead the development of “the most capable and responsible general AI systems,” Pichai said. That research, he added, “will help power the next generation of our products and services.”
Brain, the Google Research team merging with DeepMind, is focused on AI and machine learning. Pichai said Google Research will continue work in areas such as algorithms and theory, privacy and security, quantum computing, health, and responsible Al.
In addition to the blog post, Pichai sent a lengthier memo to staffers about the changes.
James Manyika, Google’s senior vice president of technology and society, will now oversee Google Research, along with his existing teams, Pichai said. Manyika will report to Dean and the changes will take place over the next few weeks, the memo said.
Here’s the text of the memo, which CNBC obtained:
Hi everyone,
We’ve been an Al-first company since 2016 because we see Al as the most significant way to deliver on our mission. Since then, we’ve used Al to improve many of our core products, from Search, YouTube and Gmail to the incredible camera in Pixel phones. We’ve helped businesses and developers harness the power of Al via Google Cloud, and we’ve shown Al’s potential to address societal issues like health and climate change.
Along the way, we’ve been lucky to have two world-class research teams leading the entire industry forward with foundational breakthroughs that have ushered in a new era of Al.
The pace of progress is now faster than ever before. To ensure the bold and responsible development of general Al, we’re creating a unit that will help us build more capable systems more safely and responsibly.
This group, called Google DeepMind, will bring together part of Google Research (the Brain team) and DeepMind. Combining all this talent into one focused team, backed by the computational resources of Google, will significantly accelerate our progress in Al.
As CEO of the new unit, Demis Hassabis will lead the development of our most capable and responsible general Al systems — research that will help power the next generation of our products and services. Jeff Dean will take on the elevated role of Google’s Chief Scientist, reporting to me. In that capacity he’ll serve as Chief Scientist to Google Research and Google DeepMind. Jeff will help set the future direction of our Al research and head up our most critical and strategic technical projects related to Al — the first of which will be a series of powerful, multi-modal Al models.
This move brings together two leading research groups in the Al field. Their collective accomplishments in Al over the last decade span AlphaGo, Transformers, word2vec, WaveNet, AlphaFold, sequence to sequence models, distillation, deep reinforcement learning, and distributed systems and software frameworks like TensorFlow and JAX for expressing, training and deploying large scale ML models.
Google DeepMind will operate as a nimble, fast-paced unit, with clear points of connection and collaboration with Google Research and the PAs.
With this change, James Manyika will now oversee Google Research along with his existing Tech & Society teams. Many of Research’s technological advances have shaped core products and features across Alphabet and will continue to do so. Working closely with Jeff as Chief Scientist, Google Research will continue its focus on fundamental and applied research across a broad portfolio. This means cracking seemingly impossible, foundational and long-term challenges in computer science — including in Al and ML — that benefit people’s lives around the world, from algorithms and theory to privacy and security to quantum computing, health, responsible Al, and more.
We’re announcing these changes today and will take the next few weeks to get the new teams into place.
Please join me in congratulating Demis, Jeff, and James on their new roles and their continued collaboration. The Google Research and DeepMind teams have laid the foundation that brought us to this inflection point.
I’m so excited for the next phase of this journey the progress we’ make against our mission, and all the ways we’ll help people reach their potential with increasingly capable and responsible Al.
Applied Digital shares jumped 16% on Friday after the company posted strong first-quarter revenue that was boosted by artificial intelligence data center demand, putting the stock up more than 350% for the year.
Here’s how the company did compared to LSEG estimates:
Loss per share: Loss of 7 cents vs. a loss of 13 cents expected
Revenue: $64.2 million vs. $50 million expected
First quarter revenue of $64.2 million was up 84% from a year ago, when it reported $34.85 million in revenue.
The data center company reported earnings after the bell on Thursday.
During the quarter, Applied Digital built on its $7 billion lease agreement with CoreWeave that was announced in June for another 150 megawatts at the firm’s Polaris Forge 1 campus in North Dakota. The additional capacity brings the anticipated contracted lease revenue for the project up to $11 billion.
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“With hyperscalers expected to invest approximately $350 billion into AI deployment this year, we believe we are in a prime position to serve as the modern-day picks and shovels of the intelligence era,” CEO Wes Cummins said in a release.
The new 150 MW building will join two other data cell blocks, each hosting 100 MW and 150 MW. The company noted that one building is nearly complete and construction will begin on the other.
Applied Digital also secured funding from Macquarie Equipment Capital for a second campus in North Dakota, dubbed Polaris Forge 2. The estimated $3 billion factory will hold two 150 MW buildings, bringing the total leased capacity to 600 MW across both campuses.
An initial 200 MW of power is expected to come online in 2026 and reach full capacity in 2027, the company said.
The company had a net loss of $18.5 million in the first quarter, a loss of 7 cents per share. A year ago, the company posted a net loss of $4.29 million, a loss of 3 cents per share.
Analysts polled by LSEG expect a loss of 15 cents per share for the second quarter on revenue of $76 million.
Rocket Lab shares have added more than a quarter in value this week as the aerospace company inked new launch deals in the burgeoning space tech industry.
The stock was flat on Friday, but has surged over 20% this week. Shares were up nearly 50% over the last two weeks and traded near fresh highs on Friday.
The stock has nearly tripled since the start of the year.
On Friday, the company said it secured two launches with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, scheduled for December and in 2026.
Earlier in the week, Rocket Lab announced a multi-launch agreement with Japanese space start Q-shu Pioneers of Space. That’s on top of four contracted missions.
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Late last month, the company also secured 10 additional launch missions for Synspective, bringing its total with the Japanese satellite company to 21. The first is scheduled for later this month.
Rocket Lab’s extreme stock movement could also be a result of some short covering, which occurs when short sellers buy a security to close a position and mitigate losses. Short interest accounted for nearly 14% of Rocket Lab’s float at the end of September.
Investors have poured more money into the space sector this year as the government greenlights more contracts and funding.
Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI Inc., during a media tour of the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025.
Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Campus, a college startup backed by Sam Altman, has hired Meta‘s former AI Vice President Jerome Pesenti as its technology head, the company announced Friday.
As part of the deal, Campus will buy Pesenti’s artificial intelligence learning platform Sizzle AI for an undisclosed amount and integrate its personalized AI-generated educational content already used by 1.7 million people.
The acquisition advances the company’s “roadmap” by two to three years and helps the platform cater learning toward individual student needs, said Tade Oyerinde, Campus founder and chancellor.
“This is a game changer,” he told CNBC.
Campus was founded to disrupt the community college system by “maximizing access to world-class education,” according to its website. It offers accredited associate degrees taught by adjunct professors from the likes of Stanford, Princeton and New York University.
The platform has over 3,000 enrolled students, charges $7,320 per academic year and accepts Pell Grants, according to its website. It also provides attendees with a laptop, mobile Wi-Fi pack, personal success coach and 24/7 tutoring access. Professors make upwards of $8,000 per course.
Campus has raised over $100 million from the likes of Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, General Catalyst, NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, venture capitalist and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale and Figma CEO Dylan Field.