Key facts
- Jeff Dean, Google's former chief scientist, has launched a new AI startup named Discovery Loop.
- The startup's founding team includes former Google colleagues Sanjay Ghemawat, Quoc Le, and Oriol Vinyals.
- Discovery Loop aims to automate the experimental loop across scientific and engineering fields, starting with ML research.
- The company has secured initial funding from Khosla Ventures and Radical Ventures, with Alphabet also participating.
- The pitch deck highlights the founders' past work on products like Google Search, Gemini AI, and TPUs, as well as their academic achievements and influence in the AI community.
Jeff Dean, a prominent figure in artificial intelligence and a 27-year veteran at Google, has departed the tech giant to launch a new AI startup named Discovery Loop. The company, co-founded with other former Google heavyweights Sanjay Ghemawat, Quoc Le, and Oriol Vinyals, aims to automate the experimental loop across various scientific and engineering disciplines, with an initial focus on machine learning research and engineering.
Dean shared slides from the startup's pitch deck on X, showcasing the founding team's impressive track record. These included contributions to foundational products like Google Search, Ads, and Gmail, as well as advancements in AI models like Gemini and custom hardware such as TPUs. The deck also highlighted the founders' academic credentials and their influence in the AI research community, noting their work with or mentorship of leaders at other major AI companies.
Discovery Loop has reportedly shared its pitch deck with select venture capital firms. Khosla Ventures and Radical Ventures are set to co-lead the initial funding round, with Alphabet and other investors also participating. Dean's departure comes amid a broader AI leadership reshuffle at Alphabet, which saw Demis Hassabis transition from CEO of Google DeepMind to become Alphabet's chief scientist and chair of Google DeepMind.