Google Reshuffles Leadership and AI Teams in Strategic Move

Google exec in charge of search and ads has a new role

The search giant is also reshuffling its product teams in order to move them into two distinct divisions amid its AI focus. After 12 years at the helm of several teams across Google, Prabhakar Raghavan will step away from his role leading search and ads and become the company's chief technologist. The search company will replace Raghavan with Nick Fox, a longtime Google executive, to step in to lead its Knowledge and Information (K&I) teams, which includes search, ads, geo and commerce products. In a statement yesterday (17 October), CEO Sundar Pichai said Raghavan will be working directly with him in the new chief technologist role to provide "technical direction" within the company. "Prabhakar's leadership journey at Google has been remarkable, spanning Research, Workspace, Ads, and K&I," said Pichai. "I'm so grateful to Prabhakar for the strong foundation and leadership bench he's built across K&I. That includes his incredible senior leaders and Nick who is ready to hit the ground running in his new role as SVP of K&I." The change in leadership comes at the same time as a team restructure, as the tech giant continues to fight for its place in the AI arms race. "To keep increasing the pace of progress, we've been making shifts to simplify our structures along the way, including the creation of Google DeepMind and the joining of the Platforms and Devices teams," said Pichai. "As a next step, Prabhakar and I have been thinking through how to structure our Knowledge & Information team for the Gemini era." The reshuffle will see the Gemini app team - currently led by Sissie Hsiao - join Google DeepMind under Demis Hassabis. This move aims to bring the teams closer together and enable fast deployment of the company's new models within the Gemini app. Additionally, the Assistant teams, which focuses on devices and home experiences will move to the Platforms and Devices team so it can "sit closer to the product surfaces they're building for and bring our AI-powered home initiatives". Having initially fallen behind its rivals in the AI race, Google has been upping its game over the last year, having announced a suite of new AI tools, a new chip and more at its Google Next 2023 event. However, it has not been without its blunders. When Google initially demoed its Bard AI chatbot in February 2023, a promotional video of the chatbot in action contained incorrect information about the James Webb Space Telescope. And more recently, the company had to apologise for "missing the mark" when its Gemini tool generated images people of colour in German military uniforms from World War II. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Google reshuffles product leadership team and two AI units - SiliconANGLE

Google LLC today announced that Prabhakar Raghavan, the executive in charge of its search engine and advertising tools, will move to the role of chief technologist. The development is part of a broader reorganization that affects several of the company's businesses. Nick Fox, a long-time Google executive, will step into Raghavan's current role. Meanwhile, two teams that work on Google Assistant and the Gemini chatbot will each move under the wing of a different business unit. "AI moves faster than any technology before it. To keep increasing the pace of progress, we've been making shifts to simplify our structures along the way," Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post detailing the changes. Raghavan is currently the senior vice president of Google's Knowledge and Information product portfolio. The portfolio includes the Alphabet Inc. unit's search engine and advertising tools, its primary sources of revenue. Raghavan also oversees the company's e-commerce tools, payment processing platform, Google Assistant and several other products. The executive is taking up the chief technologist role after six years at the head of the Knowledge and Information group. Raghavan, who holds a doctorate in computer science, will "partner closely with me and Google leads to provide technical direction and leadership and grow our culture of tech excellence," Pichai wrote in today's blog post. Nick Fox, a member of Raghavan's leadership team, has been appointed as the new head of the Knowledge and Information group. Fox is currently the vice president of product and design for Google Assistant. The executive previously held several other leadership roles in the Knowledge and Information group. As part of today's reorganization, Google is also making changes to the business unit that develops Google Assistant. A number of teams within the group that focus on "devices and home experiences" will move to the search giant's Platforms & Devices business. The latter business is responsible for, among others, the development of Google's smart home devices and Pixel handsets. The team responsible for the search giant's Gemini consumer chatbot is likewise affected by the reorganization. The unit will become part of the Google DeepMind artificial intelligence research lab. The latter group is led by Demis Hassabis, who won this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry with two other scientists for his work on the AlphaFold2 protein structure prediction system. The Gemini chatbot is based on a line of large language models, also called Gemini, that was developed by Google DeepMind. "Bringing the teams closer together will improve feedback loops, enable fast deployment of our new models in the Gemini app, make our post-training work proceed more efficiently and build on our great product momentum," Pichai explained.

Google replaces executive in charge of Search and advertising | TechCrunch

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Thursday that Prabhakar Raghavan, the executive in charge of the company's search engine and ads products, is leaving his role. Longtime Google executive Nick Fox will replace Raghavan, who will now take on the role of chief technologist. "Prabhakar has decided it's time to make a big leap in his own career," Pichai said in the announcement post. "After 12 years leading teams across Google, he'll return to his computer science roots and take on the role of Chief Technologist, Google. In this role, he'll partner closely with me and Google leads to provide technical direction and leadership and grow our culture of tech excellence." Raghavan led the Gmail team in launching Smart Reply and Smart Compose, which were the email service's first AI products. Since then, Raghavan has overseen the launch of AI Overviews and Circle to Search, along with AI features in Maps and Shopping, such as Immersive View and virtual try-on. Pichai says Fox has been "been instrumental in shaping Google's AI product roadmap and collaborating closely with Prabhakar and his leadership team." Fox has helped launch products like Google Fi and RCS messaging. In addition to the change in roles, Pichai announced that the Gemini app team led by Sissie Hsiao will join Google DeepMind under Demis Hassabis. The executive writes that bringing the two teams together will "will improve feedback loops, enable fast deployment of our new models in the Gemini app, make our post-training work proceed more efficiently and build on our great product momentum." The Google Assistant team will also become part of Google's platforms and devices team so they can be closer to the products that they're building for, Pichai says. The changes announced today comes as Google has been working to establish itself as a leader in AI. They also come as the the company is facing several antitrust lawsuits.

Google Leadership Reshuffle: Pichai's Announcement

Prabhakar Raghavan becomes Chief Technologist and Nick Fox takes over Google's Knowledge & Information (K&I) division Google's CEO Sundar Pichai announced a significant leadership re-alignment to further cement its leadership in AI and innovation. "For decades, Prabhakar Raghavan has been the head of search, and also the senior vice president over critical segments like ads," Google's current CEO said. Further adding that Raghavan now will be heading the newly created position of Chief Technologist. Pichai also announced that Nick Fox will be leading the Google's Knowledge & Information (K&I) division. Raghavan will work closely with Pichai and other senior executives to lead the technological excellence and strategic direction of the company.

Google Announces Leadership Change in Search, Structural Changes in AI | PYMNTS.com

Google announced a leadership change to its Knowledge & Information (K&I) team and some structural changes to its Gemini team. At K&I, which includes the company's Search, Ads, Geo and Commerce products, Nick Fox will succeed Prabhakar Raghavan as head of the team, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said in a Thursday (Oct. 17) announcement. Raghavan will move to the role of chief technologist at Google where he will partner with Pichai and Google leads to "provide technical direction and leadership and grow our culture of tech excellence," Pichai said in the announcement. While Raghavan was leading K&I, the group launched AI Overviews in Search; added new search modalities like Circle to Search, video understanding and "shop what you see" in Lens; added artificial intelligence-driven features like immersive view and virtual try-on to Maps and Shopping; and made progress on AI-powered ad formats and streamlined campaign management, according to the announcement. "I'm so grateful to Prabhakar for the strong foundation and leadership bench he's built across K&I," Pichai said in the announcement. "That includes his incredible senior leaders and Nick who is ready to hit the ground running in his new role as SVP of K&I!" Fox, a member of Raghavan's leadership team at K&I who will now lead that team, has demonstrated leadership across the different facets of K&I, was a pioneering leader in Ads, and launched products like Google Fi, according to the announcement. "I frequently turn to Nick to tackle our most challenging product questions, and he consistently delivers progress with tenacity, speed and optimism," Pichai said in the announcement. The announcement also said that the Gemini app team led by Sissie Hsaio will join Google DeepMind under Demis Hassabis, enabling the app team and the Gemini models team to work together more closely. It also said that the Assistant teams focused on devices and home experiences will move to Platforms & Devices so that they are closer to the products for which they are building the assistants. Google DeepMind said Oct. 9 that it developed an AI model to predict key properties of potential drugs, aiming to accelerate pharmaceutical research. On Tuesday (Oct. 15), Google said that it revamped its shopping platform with an experience powered by AI that will roll out across the United States in the coming weeks.

Google Replaces Search and Ads Chief, Moves Gemini Chatbot to AI Group

Google's head of search and advertising, Prabhakar Raghavan, is moving to a new role while the team behind the company's Gemini artificial intelligence chatbot, which competes with OpenAI's ChatGPT, and voice assistant is moving to the DeepMind AI group, CEO Sundar Pichai said Thursday. Raghavan spent about four years in the role after earlier running ads. The search business is under some

Google Reshuffles Search Leadership While Navigating AI Threat To Core Business - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Prabhakar Raghavan, the senior executive in charge of Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG owned Google's search engine and advertising products, is stepping down from his position. What Happened: Raghavan, who has been at the helm of Google's core revenue-generating business for four years, will be succeeded by Nick Fox, a long-serving Google executive within the search organization, reported The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. Raghavan, 64, will take on a new role as Google's chief technologist, working closely with CEO Sundar Pichai. "Now feels right to return to my roots as a scientist," Raghavan said, in an email to staff, according to the report. The shake-up comes at a time when Google is facing mounting challenges to its search business, including legal pressures and the emergence of AI products like ChatGPT. See Also: Elizabeth Warren Says Rival John Deaton Wants To Go To Washington To Fight For His 'Crypto Buddies' -- Republican Fires Back, Claiming He's Upset Crypto Billionaires More Than Anyone Else Raghavan, who joined Google in 2012, has been a key figure in the company's efforts to integrate AI-generated answers into its search engine, a move that has sparked controversy. Why It Matters: The leadership change at Google comes at a time when its search business faces potential disruption from OpenAI. According to Gene Munster, a tech analyst at Deepwater Asset Management, OpenAI could become a formidable competitor in the search market, despite its ties with Microsoft Corp . Munster anticipates significant announcements from OpenAI by year-end. Additionally, Google's deal to remain the default search engine on Apple iPhones is under scrutiny. A landmark antitrust case by the U.S. Department of Justice could potentially ban Google from paying Apple Inc. for this privilege, further complicating Google's search dominance. Moreover, discussions around a potential breakup of Google have surfaced, with analysts suggesting it could unlock significant value. However, the likelihood of such a split remains low. Price Action: Alphabet Inc. Class A shares closed at $162.93 on Thursday, down 1.35% for the day. In after-hours trading, the stock slightly rebounded 0.25%. Year to date, Alphabet Inc. Class A has risen by 17.92%. Similarly, Alphabet Inc. Class C shares finished at $164.51, down 1.34%. After hours, the stock climbed 0.23%. Year to date, Class C shares have increased by 17.88%, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Read Next: Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Sells $5.7M Of Robinhood Shares As Bitcoin Surge Ignites Crypto Market -- Buys Stock Of Nvidia Rival AMD Image Via Shutterstock This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs