US scientist John Jumper to leave Google DeepMind for Anthropic

Senior research scientist John Jumper announced on Friday his departure from Google DeepMind to join artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, marking the latest prominent exit from the technology giant.

John Jumper, who shared a Nobel prize in 2024 with Demis Hassabis for co-creating the protein-predicting AlphaFold system, spent nearly nine years at the firm. The move occurs amidst intense competition between firms like Alphabet, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic for elite artificial intelligence researchers. Industry analysts note that smaller startups frequently attract top talent by offering reduced bureaucracy and a singular focus on advanced development compared to legacy technology giants.

This exit follows the recent departure of Google engineering vice president Noam Shazeer to OpenAI. Demis Hassabis praised the global scientific impact of AlphaFold in response to the news, while a Google DeepMind spokesperson expressed gratitude for John Jumper's contributions to science and artificial intelligence.