AI researcher Barret Zoph is joining Google after leaving OpenAI

The world of artificial intelligence has a lot of moving parts, especially when it comes to the people running the show. In the latest big career move, top AI researcher Barret Zoph is joining Google. He will take on a major role as a vice president of research.

This move comes after a very busy few months for Zoph. He recently left the popular AI company OpenAI and was previously ousted from a new startup called Thinking Machines. Now, he is returning to Google, where he worked earlier in his career.

A Wild Ride in the AI World

Zoph has moved between several major AI players in a very short time. He left OpenAI in October 2024 to help start a new company called Thinking Machines with other former colleagues. However, he was fired from that startup in January 2025. He then went back to OpenAI for just 5 months to lead business sales before leaving again in June 2025.

What He Will Do at Google

At Google, Zoph will focus on research for Gemini, which is Google's main AI tool. Specifically, he will work on reinforcement learning, which is a way of training AI by rewarding it for making good decisions. He will also focus on post-training. This is a process that fine-tunes an AI model after its initial build to make it safer and more useful for regular people.

High Turnover in the AI Industry

Zoph is not the only high-level expert changing jobs right now. The AI industry is seeing a lot of people leave their positions. OpenAI in particular has lost several key leaders over the last 8 months. This high rate of turnover makes many people wonder about the stability of these massive tech companies.

Quick Questions Answered

A: He is a prominent AI researcher who has held major roles at OpenAI, Google, and a startup called Thinking Machines.

A: He will serve as the vice president of research, focusing on training and improving Google's Gemini AI models.

A: He was fired from the startup in January 2025 before briefly returning to OpenAI.