Nobel laureate John Jumper is leaving DeepMind for rival Anthropic

John Jumper, who shared a recent Nobel Prize in chemistry, announced Friday that he’s making the leap to Anthropic after “nearly 9 years” at Google DeepMind. In a post on X, Jumper wrote that DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis “took a real chance letting me lead the AlphaFold team just six months after finishing my PhD, and the entire GDM team taught me so much about how to do great science.” Jumper (pictured above right, with Hassabis) added, “GDM is a special place, and I’ll still be excited to hear about what amazing things they discover next.” Bloomberg reports that Jumper was a key member of Google’s team developing coding tools, which the company has struggled to sell to businesses.

Character AI co-founder Noam Shazeer also announced this week that he’s leaving DeepMind — though in Shazeer’s case, he’s joining OpenAI.  Jumper and Hassabis won the Nobel Prize in 2024 for their work on AlphaFold, an AI model that can predict the 3D structure of proteins based on their genetic sequences. Last chance to save up to $190 on TechCrunch Founder Summit. Join 1,000+ founders and VCs at all stages for real-world scaling insights and connections that move the needle.Savings end June 26, 11:59 p.m. PT. Every weekday and Sunday, you can get the best of TechCrunch’s coverage. TechCrunch Mobility is your destination for transportation news and insight. Startups are the core of TechCrunch, so get our best coverage delivered weekly. Provides movers and shakers with the info they need to start their day. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. Anthropic starts localizing Claude pricing for India, its biggest market after the US