OpenAI Ex-Chief Researcher Barret Zoph Returns to Google DeepMind as VP

Barret Zoph, a researcher in the artificial intelligence field, will return to Google DeepMind as vice president of research. Zoph previously served as chief researcher at OpenAI and later co-founded the AI company Thinking Machines Lab (TML). He announced the new appointment on social media, noting that after leaving OpenAI he co-founded TML with Mira Murati and others, serving as technical director. He had briefly returned to OpenAI as vice president and general manager of enterprise. From 2016 to 2022, Zoph worked as a research scientist at Google.

Google spokesperson Thomas Schoenfelder said the company looks forward to Zoph's return and to applying his expertise in reinforcement learning and post-training to the AI application Gemini. Zoph said that after informing Murati of his intention to leave for another opportunity, she dismissed him, citing issues with his performance, behavior, and trust. Two other TML co-founders who left with Zoph, Luke Metz and Sam Schoenholz, have also clarified their next steps, with Metz reportedly joining Meta.