Jeff Dean, Google’s 30th employee and chief scientist, is leaving after 27 years to lead AI startup Discovery Loop. Legendary computer scientist Jeff Dean, one of Google’s earliest employees and the co-founder of its flagship AI divisions, is departing the company after 27 years, triggering an outpouring of shock, tributes and memes across internal company message boards, a report by Business Insider said. Dean announced his departure as part of a major artificial intelligence (AI) leadership reorganisation at Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
Reaction by Google employees: Memes honour ‘tech legend’
Inside Google, news of Dean’s exit was met with a mix of sadness and humour, the report said. Staff flooded internal channels with memes, reviving classic “Jeff Dean Facts”, which is said to be a long-running workplace joke celebrating Dean’s near-mythical status as an engineer who helped build Google’s core search engine and original AI infrastructure.One widely circulated post said, “Google is not losing Jeff Dean. Google is finally open-sourcing him for humanity”, while another joked that Dean was “leaving Google so machine learning advances can catch up to him.”Other employees reflected on the weight of the departure, with one posting photos of Dean and Ghemawat alongside the message, “Sad day for Google.” Another worker expressed frustration with how the announcement was handled, writing, “Jeff and Sanjay’s decision deserves to be a separate email. Not a footnote of some reorg.”Google CEO Sundar Pichai also joined the fray with a message on X (formerly Twitter). He said: “I also want to give a huge thanks to the incomparable @JeffDean after an incredible 27-year run at Google.”“On a personal note, it’s been a privilege to work with Jeff and Sanjay, and I wish them all the best. Thank you for everything!,” he added.Den replied: “Thank you, @sundarpichai! It has been a pleasure working with you for many years, and thanks for the warm sendoff!”Some staff members poked fun at the financial market’s reaction after Alphabet’s stock dipped roughly 6% following the executive reshuffle. One employee posted a picture of Dean’s face with a coding joke caption: “My parting gift: StockReduce.”
Broader leadership shake-up at Alphabet
Dean’s departure comes alongside a wider realignment of Alphabet’s AI executive team. As part of the transition, Demis Hassabis will move from his role as CEO of Google DeepMind to become Alphabet’s Chief Scientist while retaining his role as chair of DeepMind.During his nearly three decades at the company, Dean co-founded the Google Brain research team and served as a technical co-lead on Google’s Gemini project, shaping much of the underlying infrastructure that powers modern cloud computing and large language models.