Key points: Chemistry Nobel laureate and AlphaFold leader John Jumper leaves Google DeepMind after nine years to join Anthropic, reflecting intense competition for top AI talent among major corporations.
AlphaFold developer and Chemistry Nobel Prize winner John Jumper is leaving Google DeepMind after nearly nine years to join AI competitor Anthropic. The move underscores the intense competition among leading companies for top talent in the AI sector.
John Jumper confirmed his move on June 19, 2026 via the X platform. The 58-year-old scientist was most recently Vice President at Google DeepMind, where he led the development of AlphaFold. Before his departure, Jumper took time to recharge, as he noted himself.
At DeepMind, Jumper led the scientific direction of the AlphaFold project, which can predict the three-dimensional structure of over 200 million proteins. For this achievement, which solved a decade-old problem in molecular biology, Jumper received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis. Most recently, he worked in the area of AI-powered coding tools. Hassabis acknowledged in his farewell message that AlphaFold demonstrated global impact and showed the potential of AI for science and medicine.
The move to Anthropic comes at a time of intensified competition for leading researchers and engineers in the AI industry. Major players such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and Meta are investing heavily in recruiting top talent. Anthropic has established itself as a direct competitor to Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT with its Claude model family. In the same week, Noam Shazeer, former Vice President of Engineering and co-lead of Gemini development at Google, also announced his move to OpenAI. Anthropic has not yet released any statement regarding Jumper’s future responsibilities.
Source: www.it-daily.net · Published June 22, 2026
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