Nobel Prize-winning researcher John Jumper announced Friday that he is walking away from Google DeepMind after nearly a decade to take a position at AI startup Anthropic.
Jumper, who shared the Nobel Prize with Google’s Demis Hassabis in 2024, built his reputation as a co-creator of AlphaFold — an artificial intelligence system that has mapped out more than 200 million protein structures, shaving years off the timeline for biological and medical discoveries.
“After nearly nine years, I have decided to leave Google DeepMind and join Anthropic,” Jumper wrote in a post on X.
His departure is the latest sign of an escalating battle for elite AI researchers among major technology companies. Giants like Meta and Alphabet, as well as AI startups including Anthropic and OpenAI, are all competing aggressively to attract the brightest minds in the field as they push to develop next-generation AI systems.
Jumper’s exit follows closely on the heels of another notable Google departure. Just days earlier, Noam Shazeer — a vice president of engineering at Google and co-lead of its Gemini AI models — announced he would be leaving to join OpenAI, which is preparing for an initial public offering.
Hassabis responded to Jumper’s announcement on X, saying: “What we achieved with AlphaFold changed the world, and showed the field what was possible with AI for science and medicine, lighting the way for how AI can benefit humanity.”
According to his LinkedIn profile, Jumper holds the title of VP, Engineering Fellow, at Google DeepMind. He is heading to Anthropic at a particularly turbulent moment for the startup, which is currently involved in a significant legal and regulatory dispute with the U.S. government.
Anthropic has a science-focused event scheduled for June 30. The company did not respond to a request for comment about what role Jumper will take on.
In his farewell post, Jumper called Google DeepMind a “special place” and expressed ongoing interest in the work the organization will continue to do.
A Google DeepMind spokesperson offered this response by email: “We are grateful for John’s significant contributions to Google DeepMind’s work in advancing science and AI. We wish him well in his next chapter.”
