Alphabet shares plunge as top AI researchers jump to rivals

Alphabet Inc.'s stock fell up to 7% in intraday trading on Tuesday, wiping about $225 billion from its market value – the largest one‑day loss on record. The slide followed announcements that two senior AI researchers have left the company.

DeepMind vice‑president John Jumper, a co‑developer of the AlphaFold protein‑folding system and 2024 Nobel Chemistry laureate, announced he is joining the AI start‑up Anthropic.

Noam Shazeer, who helped lead the development of Google's Gemini model and co‑authored the seminal 2017 "Attention Is All You Need" paper, disclosed his move to OpenAI.

Analysts said the departures raise concerns about Google's ability to retain top talent in the fast‑moving generative‑AI race. "This senior‑level research exodus raises concerns that Google is losing the talent battle in cutting‑edge AI," said an industry analyst. Some market observers cautioned that the stock reaction may be overstated, noting that the talent loss alone does not fully explain the market‑cap erosion.