Two senior engineers are leaving company to launch startup amid fears Google is falling behind in AI race

Sir Demis Hassabis is stepping down as chief executive of Google DeepMind, in a leadership overhaul of the UK-based AI research lab.

Hassabis, a Nobel prize recipient, is leaving his main managerial role to become chair of DeepMind – as well as taking on the new position of chief scientist at Alphabet, which is Google’s parent company. DeepMind will now be led by Koray Kavukcuoglu, its chief technology officer, under the title of senior vice-president.