Barret Zoph rejoins Google DeepMind as VP of Research

Barret Zoph, co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab and former OpenAI Vice President of Research, has rejoined Google DeepMind as Vice President of Research. Zoph, who began his career in the Google Brain Residency program, will focus on reinforcement learning and post-training efforts to support the development of the Gemini model.

Zoph’s return follows a series of high-profile moves within the AI industry, including stints at OpenAI and the co-founding of Thinking Machines Lab alongside Mira Murati. His appointment comes as Google DeepMind seeks to strengthen its research capabilities and maintain momentum in the competitive AI landscape.